


Baby, It's You

by PurpleOrchid85



Category: The Middle
Genre: Axl/Sue, F/M, Heckcest, Incest, Romance, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-08
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-02-24 14:12:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 41,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2584274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleOrchid85/pseuds/PurpleOrchid85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Party & The Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: Since Carly’s boyfriend didn’t actually have a name on the show, (he was referred as the ‘Hot Dog on a stick boyfriend’ by Sue) I gave him one. Also it is unknown if Carly had siblings, so I’m going to give her a older sister who’s at college.
> 
> AN: I'm not sure if the show outright said if Morgan Edwards was in Axl’s year at school, but for this fic, Morgan is indeed a senior and graduated the same year as Axl, Cassidy, Darrin and Sean.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

“I cannot believe I’ve got my licence now. And it’s been my sixth go at it.” Sue Heck said, shaking her head as she sat next to her best friend Carly who nodded fervently. Sue eyed Carly’s boyfriend Jason who was intent playing on his PSP and was oblivious to the girly discussion in front of him.

“We have to celebrate. How about fro-yo?” Sue asked brightly.

Carly bit her lip in thought “Well... actually Jason got an invite to go to the senior after party tonight, and he wants me to come too as well, but I don’t want to go if Jason happens to ditch me by accident. So will you come with as well?”

“Me? I don’t know…” Sue said uncomfortably.

“Oh come on, you’ve got to get out of your comfort space since you broke up with Darrin.” Carly pointed out.

Sue sighed “Oh alright. But what am I going to wear? This dress seems…” she floundered for a word that described it but Jason spoke “Looks like something my grandma would wear at her funeral.” He eyed the flowered dress Sue wore.

“Jason!” Carly angrily snapped.

“No, he’s got a point.” Sue insisted.

Carly gave a glare at Jason who shrugged and returned staring intently at his PSP.

Carly said “Well, it’s a good thing Izzy’s at college and she pretty much said I could borrow anything from her closet.” She pulled Sue off her bed and guided her to her sister Isabel’s room.

 

Within an hour, Sue was wearing a knee high blue sleeved dress and her hair was curled with the help of Carly. Carly wore a simple pink dress.

She, Carly and Jason enter the graduation after party, looking around in interest. “We gotta be careful. I know Axl’s here somewhere. If he finds out I’m here, I’m dead.” Sue said to Carly in a forbidding tone, giving her the swishing neck move. Carly nods nervously. The three of them meander through the crowd, seeing couples are necking with each other, drinking and otherwise being appropriately debauched. She doesn’t notice Jason who has a beer in one hand had walked off while Carly was standing and staring agape at a group of grads doing strip poker, not noticing her boyfriend had wandered off.

As Sue walked through the crowd with an expression of disgust on her face as she watched the bacchanalia scene in front of her. “ _God_.” She muttered under her breath in disgust. Then she passed Darrin whose neck is being licked by girl. He saw her and was shocked, but before he would react anymore, the neck-licking girl who’s just grabs him and kisses him.

_Hard_.

Sue winced.

It was difficult to see her ex with another girl, but it was her decision to break up with him in the first place so she had no business at all to tell him who to date or have a makeout with anyway.

She turned to speak to Carly, but she discovered that her best-friend had disappeared. Panicking, she goes through the crowd searching for her until a drink suddenly appeared in her hand. She paused and glanced around then shrugged and took a drink.

 

Sue grumbled as sunlight hit her eyes. She slowly woke up and discovered that she’s naked in a bed. She heard a mumbling groan from next to her and she turned to see a naked and asleep _Axl_ next to her.

“Oh my god. I had sex with my brother!” she gasped in realization.

She indeed was feeling a slight ache and saw dried blood on the sheets. Wanting to escape, she bent over the side of the bed and found her dress and panties and quickly and quietly dressed and snuck out, keeping her eyes on the still-asleep Axl until she was free and clear of the room.

Using her previous cross-country experience, she quickly weaved through the living room, stepping over sleeping and unconscious bodies on the floor she exited through the front door into the bright sunshine. Wincing, she threw up a hand against the overly bright sunshine; she walked towards Carly’s car. She let out a relieved sigh as she found a hung over, tired and sunglasses clad Carly in a slumping lean against her car. Carly instantly straightened as Sue approached and said concernedly “Sue! Where have you been? One minute you were next to me the next minute you were gone.” Sue said “I would say the same, Carly.”

Then Carly crumpled into tears.

“Carly, what happened?” Sue asked, pulling her into a comforting hug. Carly explained “When I lost you, I went looking for Jason and I found him he was making out with Morgan Edwards and then I had a yelling row with him and instantly broke up with him and went with hot guys and end up doing vodka jello shots with them.”

“ _Morgan?_ What a jerk, and she’s a huge bitch for making out with him when he supposed to have a girlfriend. Ever since she kept breaking up with Axl back in his freshman year, I’ve strongly disliked her.” Sue said angrily.

Carly then asked Sue “What about you, what were you up to?”

Sue says in an exhausted tone “Don’t ask.”

“Let’s just go to Denny’s for breakfast and work out what exactly to tell our parents since we missed our curfews.” Sue offered. Carly nodded, and then winced her hand going to her head obviously suffering from a hangover.

 

Once they were safely enclosed in a booth at the local Denny’s and were eating their breakfast, Sue suggested “How about we tell a half truth?” as she speared a piece of waffle from her halfway finished plate of waffles.

“What do you mean?” Carly asked, after she swallowed a bite of her half-finished omelette.

Sue replied “Well, just explain how you caught Jason making out with Morgan and had a fight with him and I ended up consoling you for the night and had my phone turned off. And unlike Axl, my lies won’t unravel since Mom trusts me.” She reminded Carly, thinking back to the time where Axl tried to get out of his Spanish exam with the sick-not-sick-sick-religious holiday-dead relative excuse and having Nancy Donahue, Mom and his Spanish teacher simultaneously catch him out and he eventually ended up being grounded.

Carly, with her fork in her mouth mumbled out a “Hmm.” She then pulled the fork out, chewed and swallowed and said “That could work. That fact about _Jason_ -” she spat his name like poison “cheating on me is true enough.”

As both girls finished, they both threw down some money for the waitress and got up to exit out the doorway, a group of hot guys passed them and one of them yelled “Vodka girl! Glug, glug whoo, whoo!” the rest drunkenly cheered. Carly gave them an acknowledging nod and awkward smile.

Sue gave her the patented Axl eyebrow raise™ she picked up from her older brother and crisply said “Explain.”

Carly winced “When I was doing the vodka jello shots with them, I kept chanting Glug, glug whoo, whoo at every guy that did the beer keg headstand.” Sue shook her head, biting her lip to hide an amused smile. “Well at least everyone has one embarrassing drunken story; I guess that one’s yours.” She blithely said as she stood at the passenger door of Carly’s car waiting for her to unlock the door.

Carly shot back “And what was yours?”

Sue sighed and said “Not going to say. _Ever_.”

At that, Carly’s eyebrows raised in surprise. Sue was the type to tell her and Brad her secrets, but apparently this secret was one was not to see light of day.

 

After minutes of a silent and anxious drive, Carly pulled her car up behind the Church van at the kerb in front of Carly’s house. Sue put up her fisted hand and stuck out her last finger and said “Promise to keep the events of last night a secret?” Carly mimicked Sue’s hand figure and moved it forwards to link her last finger with Sue’s and said fervently “Promise.”

Sue unlaced the small finger from Carly’s and said with a small smile upon her face “Thanks.” She dug out the keys from her bag, exited the car and got into the van all the while as Carly watched from her car.

 

Sue glanced at the review mirror as she saw Carly stop on the door stoop and swallow worriedly before entering her house, ready to face angry parents. She pulled the van behind Axl’s car at the kerb, exited and on autopilot, locked up and made her way up towards the house. Before Sue would take the house keys out of her bag, the door opened and a dressing gown clad Frankie stood there, with pyjama-clad Mike behind her with an exhausted and relieved face.

Frankie asked rapidly “Where were you? Why didn’t you call? You missed your curfew last night; I almost had to ring the hospital to check to see if you were there. Oh, I would expect this from Axl, but not you.” Frankie ranted.

She winced then spoke “Mom. Mom. _MOM!_ ” she shouted the last crankily.

Frankie instantly stopped ranting with a surprised look on her face.

Sue then reeled off the answers to Frankie’s rapid-fire questions. “I was at Carly’s last night; I had to console her she broke up with Jason. My phone was turned off and I forgot to turn it back on. And I’m _not_ like Axl, I just forgot the curfew time okay?” she finished snappishly. She spun and stalked towards the hallway, leaving Frankie to stand there, gaping wordlessly at her, with Mike giving Frankie a pointed look.

 

Once she arrived at her room and closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door for a minute, and then as the event of the night sunk in, she sank down to the floor, still leaning against the door, sobbing heavily.

 

“Oh god, what did I do?” she wailed.


	2. The Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: Hutch’s ‘real name’ wasn’t mentioned on s5 of “The Middle” so I’m giving him “Abraham Hutchinson” as his full name but he hates his name so therefore that’s why he insists on his name as “Hutch”
> 
> AN: Since Darrin’s last name never was mentioned on the show (how the hell did Sean Donahue get one and Darrin didn’t?) so I gave him a last name “Dumas” as well as his Mom a first name.
> 
> AN2: Even though I actually miss the rusty blue Gran Torino, Axl’s ‘new’ car is the rusty light green 1970 Chevrolet Nova. (Shown in at the end of “Graduation”)
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

It was a few weeks later, and Sue entered the kitchen in her pyjamas, trying not to look towards Axl’s way. After the post-grad party, she had been avoiding Axl, but the other teen was too busy with partying, random Boss. Co jobs, and hanging with Sean and Darrin to notice this minuscule change. As she passed Frankie who was holding a hot cup of coffee, the smell wafting towards her nose. She instantly stopped dead, bile rising in her throat. She quickly turned and raced towards the bathroom, not realising the worried looks of her family as she passed them on the way.

 

“Ugh.” She said, pushing away from the toilet for the second time that morning. She pressed the flush button and quickly rinsed her mouth and squeezed out ample toothpaste and began to brush her mouth to get rid of the awful acrid taste of vomit.

As she tried to puzzle out the sudden vomiting in the strange hours of the day lately, whether if it was something she smelt or not, her eyes fell onto the reflection of the feminine hygiene bag she had lying on the shelf next to the shower, she froze in realization.

 

“Oh no.” she mumbled. She frantically tried to remember when her last period cycle was, but came up blank. She dropped her toothbrush down into the basin in shock.

“No. I can’t be pregnant.” She said to herself. She quickly rinsed her toothbrush and returned to the cup holder and ran to her bedroom and quickly changed and grabbed her handbag and brushed past a concerned Frankie who forestalled her “Sue, what’s going on? Are you okay, do you need a doctor?” Sue quickly spat out an vague excuse about why she was sick and then said “Got to go to Carly’s, I forgot to ask her something yesterday.” Confused, Frankie let her arm go. She picked up the Church van’s keys and quickly left before Frankie would speak again.

Her hands tightened as she drove towards Roosevelt. She couldn’t risk driving to the Frugal Hoosier, someone like Nancy Donahue, Paula Norwood, Candy Dumas or anybody else in the Orson community would notice her buying pregnancy tests and immediately tell Frankie. That was one of the pitfalls of living in a small town. Every little thing was told, and rumors spread because of that.

 

She quickly parked at the pharmacy, rushed in and panicky checked the aisle signs, discovered the right one and began to search the aisle that was clearly marked for pregnancy tests. She stopped dead, staring at the various brands: Accu-Clear, ClearBlue, e.p.t Certainty, First Response, OneStep, Pregnosis Clear… there was too many brands. Too many to figure out which ones were the right ones to get. She sneakily looked around, made sure nobody was lurking nearby and blindly grabbed at least five different packs of tests and strode up to the checkout counter and thumped her pile of tests in front of a bored teenage check-out chick snapping gum and reading a Cosmopolitan magazine. The teenager just swiped the items without looking and looked at the total price and rattled the price off. Sue hurriedly handed the exact cash and rushed out of the pharmacy, leaving the teenager to look confusedly at her then shrugged and returned to her riveting magazine.

 

Sue determinedly stuck to the speed limit, easily resisting glancing at the plastic bag of tests. She quickly parked in the drive way, noticing Mike’s car had left, but not Axl’s. She re-entered the house, hiding the plastic bag behind her handbag that was held up against her chest. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw nobody in the living room or kitchen. She slipped into the bathroom and grabbed the first pregnancy test her hands landed on. She quickly read the instructions and followed them. With some tense wait, she read the result. “Pregnant.” She then moaned “No!” then she opened another, read the instructions and followed them to the letter, more waiting then read the results.

“Pregnant.” She continued with the other tests, with the exact same reactions. Thirty minutes later, she held the final test result in her hand, she finally let out a loud sob.

“I can’t be pregnant. I’m sixteen years old.” She told herself. Then she continued to cry, clutching the tests in her hands as she sat down on the closed toilet seat.

 

She heard loud banging at the door “Sue! I need the toilet, open up!” Axl shouted.

“Go away! Use Mom and Dad’s if you really need to!” she yelled back, her voice wavering.

“Sue? Are you alright?” he asked, noticing her tone of voice. She shut her eyes, but then she realised she never answered him her eyes flew open.

“Axl don’t com-” she said, but it was too late; Axl had the door open, revealing his figure standing in the doorway holding a paperclip.

He shut the door behind him and chucked the now useless paperclip into the rubbish bin then asked “You aright? I heard you cry earlier. What’s wrong?”

 

She looked up with a tear-stained face and asked “Do - do you remember your post-grad party you went to with your friends after graduation?”

His eyebrows creased for a moment, muddling through his drunken memories until he remembered a flash of kissing Sue.

His eyes widened in realization.

 

Sue smiled bitterly. “Well…we ended up…” she tried to get out the words.

Axl instantly caught on “You mean you… and me…” he gestured between him and her.

“Yeah.” She said flatly. She continued in the same tone “And guess what?” she held up the tests, all with various positive results on them.

 

He pales and straightaway faints.

“Axl!” she worriedly shouts, dropping the tests onto the floor and bent down and gently shakes him awake.

He woke up and shakily asks “Is this a dream?” he asked rhetorically. Sue shook her head, staring across at the scattered tests.

Axl stood up and began to pace the small room as Sue stood up and reclaimed her previous seat on the toilet.

 

He thoughtfully said out loud “Okay. Well, here’s the plan. When I was in the office to get my transcripts for East Indy earlier today, I heard one of the ladies in the office was babbling about a student that backed out of the junior college evaluation visit program that was to be at East Indy. You can ask them if you could be that student instead so that way while I’m busy with summer football camp and you with the junior college evaluation program at East Indy we both can have some time away from the parentals to figure out what exactly to tell them.”

 

Sue perked up at the idea.

Axl sees her face and said “Great. Come on.” He pulled her up from the toilet. “Hang on.” Sue swept up all the tests and shoved them back into the plastic bag and wrapped it up and then followed Axl out to his car, peeling away for a second to open and throw the wrapped plastic bag into the trash can, ensuring it landed deep down bottom, knowing that the other members of the family just shoved the full garbage bags in the trash can without looking and was safe from being discovered for the moment.

“Sue! Hurry up!” Axl called from his car.

“I’m coming!” She shoved the lid back on the trash can and quickly paced to Axl’s car, opening and sliding in and shutting the door closed.

“What were you doing?” He asked.

“Hiding the evidence. Nobody bothers to look directly in the bin when we throw the garbage out.” Sue answered.

“Good idea.” He said as he realised he forgot to factor in that fact.

 

Axl parked in front of the guest carpark spot in front of the administration office. Silent, the duo exited and walked to the office. When they were inside, the administrator just finished hanging up the phone.

“Mr. Heck? Why are you back, we gave you your transcript this morning.”

Axl gently shoved Sue in front of her “Dork, tell them what I suggested.”

Sue glared at Axl briefly but turned her attention to the administrator “Um… I heard that the position for the junior college evaluation visit program for East Indy has opened up, I’d like to apply for it.”

The administrator said “Great.” She got up and went over to the shelf behind her and searched for a moment until she let out a “Aha!” and grabbed the papers needed and brought it over and handed them to Sue, along with a pen. “Fill it out, and we’ll contact you in a few days if you’ve been chosen.”

 

Sue nodded and began filling out the requested forms, while ignoring Axl’s feet shifting.

She smiled at the administrator as she handed the finished papers back, and she said “Thank you. There should be a week’s wait until you officially can find out if the application has been accepted.”

“Thanks.” She hurriedly said with a smile as Axl grabbed her wrist and dragged her out of the office. The administrator watched on both confused and amused.

 

That night, Sue lay wide awake in her bed. She glanced at the bright red 1:20am time that showed on her digital bedside clock and her head fell back onto her pillow, groaning softly. She could not sleep, she was thinking too much. Thinking and wondering.

Her hand moved to her tummy, imagining a little peanut of a fetus in there. She wondered for the fourth time today if it was the right decision, to go ahead with the baby.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by her bedroom door opening and the tall figure of Axl tiptoeing inside.

“Axl? What-” she began to ask, but his hand covered her mouth, quieting her.

“Shh. I just wanted to talk.” He said lowly.

He then hopped in, lying next to her, his face looking up at the ceiling.

Then he was quiet for a moment.

Concerned, Sue asked “Axl?”

 

Then he spoke “From what I did remember, I really enjoyed kissing you.”

Sue whispered “You did?”

“Yeah.” He admitted.

Sue asked quietly “Then why don’t you go ahead and try again?”

He laughed quietly and kissed her.

This time, he was stone cold sober.

The kiss was soft, tender and sweet.

They parted.

“I liked it too, even though I didn’t remember the last one I got.” Sue admitted in a whisper.

Axl smirked at her “Of course you liked it. I’m the Axman.” Sue rolled her eyes both in exasperation and relief.

They stayed together through the night, lying close together on Sue’s narrow single bed, quietly talking, exchanging kisses and brief touches.

 

A week later, Sue was flipping channels on the television as she tried to find something interesting to watch in the late afternoon. Today was her first day of vacation and she already was bored. Both of her parents were at work, Brick was starting his vacation days at the library as usual, Axl was too busy trying to save up money for college with Sean and Darrin by doing a lot of Boss. Co jobs so she only saw him at dinner or when he snuck into her room later in the evenings to spend the night with the parentals and Brick oblivious to what went on under their noses.

Suddenly the phone rang, piercing the stillness of the quiet Heck house. She got up and answered it “Sue Heck speaking.” Then she heard “Miss Heck, this is Violet from Orson High. I have got your application here, and it has been approved.”

A look of shock appeared on her face.

“What? _Really?_ ” she said down in the receiver.

Violet said “Yes really. Now you have…” she began to list what Sue had to do for the next few days. Sue hurriedly grabbed a pen and a random piece of crap paper and she started to write.

Once she finished and hung up, she stared at the list, and then she yelled “Oh my god! I got it!” then began her victory dance, albeit a bit clumsy.

Frankie entered the house, looking through the mail she had picked up from the mailbox.

 

When she heard Sue’s delighted yell and looked up to see her victory dance, she questioned her daughter “What are you celebrating for?”

“I got approved for the junior college evaluation visit program when I applied for it last week.” Sue answered gleefully.

“Where at?” Frankie asked, frowning.

  
Mike entered the house, with Axl and Brick following. Axl declared “I am so rich!” then he kicked off his shoes, took off his shirt and jeans, leaving him just clad in his boxers. He dumped the discarded clothes upon the top of the couch and jumped onto it and picked up the remote and switched the TV on and started to flip channels. Brick continued on shuffling to the shared bedroom and putting his book bag on his bed and pulling a random novel out and shuffled back out towards the couch and sitting on the furthest seat from Axl and opened the novel and started to read, oblivious to what was happening behind him.

Sue answered Frankie “East Indy.”

Frankie said “East Indy? I don’t know Sue…I don’t want a repeat of what happened in your freshman year – you annoyed Axl so much that year.”

Sue was offended “Mom, I learnt my lesson. No more ‘Frosh’ Sue. Besides, it was Axl who came up with the idea in the first place.” Frankie looked disbelievingly at Sue, then at Axl.

Mike had the same reaction upon his face.

“Axl?” Frankie asked her son for confirmation.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatevs.” Axl said distractedly too absorbed in the television show he was watching to understand the conversation.

Frankie took the list Sue was clutching and said “Alright, let’s see…” she started to mumble to herself the items that were on the list. Once she finished she said “Tomorrow we’ll get these things and this weekend we’re all going up to East Indy to find a short-term place for you two.”

“But Mom, I got a Boss. Co job that day!” Axl complained as he looked away from the TV.

“Cancel it, or get the job moved to another day.” Frankie said firmly at her son, who rolled his eyes.

Frankie then started to rummage in the pantry for bread and the assorted items and thumped them upon the table and called “Sandwich Night!”

 

Saturday rolled around and the Hecks now were in the sixth house they were checking out for short-term rent. Apparently, the two bed-room cottage was for rent for a short-term due to the homeowner going on a two month Seniors’ cruise overseas and the homeowner’s return coincided with the start of Axl’s college year. Axl’s eyes followed Sue around as she awed over the cosiness and how sweet-looking the cottage was, with the exterior being picturesque with a garden arch entry and the slate stepping stones path and the white picket fence and it’s interior with an old-style fireplace, hardwood floors, a lovely antique chandelier and an window seat overlooking the beautiful garden arch. Axl glanced over to his Dad and gave him a pointed look. Mike glanced over at his still twitterpated daughter and cleared his throat and spoke to the real-estate lady “Ma’am, they will take it.”

Frankie protests at first “Mike, they need one more person to balance out the rent, because...” She fretted, instantly forgetting the fact that it is paid by the university, for both Sue’s evaluation program and Axl’s football camp. Mike shook his head and said pointedly “Frankie.”

He then escorts Frankie out, leaving Sue and Axl behind with the real estate lady to sort out the details and sign the temporary contract.

 

Afterward when the contract was signed, Mike and Frankie exchange hugs (Axl saaid in a  scandalized tone “Mom!” and jumps away, glancing around him to ensure no other college students saw the hug) Frankie told the two teens “Be home by tomorrow afternoon to start packing your things to bring them here.”

Axl rolled his eyes “yeah, yeah, Mom. Now go!” he shooed Frankie towards Mike’s car with a subtle shove. Sue gave Mike a hug and said “Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.” The teens watch their parents get into their car, with Frankie loudly saying “Thank goodness Brick has that social group sleepover tonight. Mike, how about we have a romantic dinner at the Orson Patch?” Axl retrained the urge to gag at how lovey-dovey his parents were. When he was sure the parents were gone, he tugged Sue towards his car saying “C’mon, let’s go watch a movie then grab dinner.”

At this, Sue snapped to attention “Are you saying this is a date?”

Axl rolled his eyes “What do you think? _Yes_ , of course.”

“Aw.” Sue said, her eyes instantly going dewy.

 

They arrived at the local movie theater that was close to the college campus; sue looking up and reading the new release and recent release movies.

“Hmm…” Sue murmured She knew Axl wouldn’t want to see the _Great Gatsby_ or _The Big Wedding_ as he thought they were chick flicks, and Sue knew there was no way she would see _The Evil Dead_ since she hated horror films ever since seeing _Revenge of the Pod Zombies_. She felt Axl put an arm across her shoulders so she spoke “Well, the movie choices are _42_ , a baseball movie that you will like since it’s about sports, or _Iron Man III_ or _The Hangover part III._ ”

They decided upon watching the newest _Hangover_ movie, as Sue was in the mood for laughter. She eyed the popcorn, suddenly craving for it, thanks to the little peanut she was carrying, only to be surprised when Axl bought them a the largest popcorn that was on sale. She gave him a beaming smile, making Axl feel proud.

With tickets and the popcorn and refreshments in hands, they made their way into the allocated theater room and took their seats. As the lights dimmed and the screen slowly started to warm up, Sue made sure she was comfortable and snatched some of the nice, warm buttery popcorn and popped them in her mouth and chewed. Within minutes of the beginning of the movie, she started to giggle; seeing the onscreen character of Alan Garner driving the freeway with a giraffe and his pronouncement “My name’s Alan and I bought a giraffe, and he’s all mine and he’s super friendly!”

 

Throughout whole of the movie, Axl kept his arm around Sue’s occasional giggling form.

When the onscreen character of Leslie Chow’s announcement of “We had a sick night, bitches. Heh-heh-heh.” and the final scream from the Wolfpack sounded, both Sue and Axl let out a final bellyaching laugh, Sue’s laugh accompanied by tears. The lights began to come back on as the credits began to roll

“That was quite funny.” Sue commented as she got up from her seat. As Axl let her get up, he slid his arm off snickering “I just thought the expression of that giraffe before it smacked into the bridge wall was hilarious!”

Sue said sensitively “That poor giraffe.” Wincing at the thought of that giraffe smashing in that cement wall of the bridge.

“Gotta take a leak.” Axl said as his eyes hit upon the Men’s toilet. Sue nodded. Luckily, she had been in and out for peeing breaks due to the frequent urination that she recently had noticed as one of her symptoms so she didn’t need any more breaks and was happy to wait out front.

 

She leaned against the wall of the theater, people watching the people across the road.

“Hey sweetness, want some of this?” a drunken voice asked.

A older college student had appeared in front of her.

Uncomfortable and panicking, Sue didn’t say anything. The college guy began to touch her chest. She shoved the hand away, but the hand returned.

“Hey!” an unfamiliar voice shouted angrily.

An dark-skinned beanpole approached them and pulled the handsy idiot off Sue and punches him.

“No means no!” he said down to the drunk guy who was on the ground with a bruise now blooming across his eye.

 

Axl had arrived in time to see the punch land upon the drunk guy and backed the dark-skinned beanpole up. The drunken college instantly guy realizes that he was in a bad situation quickly due to the two teenagers that was glaring angry at him.

He ran off.

The dark-skinned teenager spoke to both Sue and Axl, introducing himself "Sorry about that. Not all college guys are like him. Name's Hutch... well, Abraham Hutchinson really, but everyone in my hometown calls me Hutch." he held a hand out towards Axl.

Axl took the proffered hand and shook it “I’m Axl, and this is Sue.” He said, introducing themselves as he wove an arm around Sue.

Sue intervened “We were going to dinner, won’t you join us as a thank you. _Please_?”

Hutch looked in askance to Axl, who nodded in agreement, a smile upon his face.

“I’d love to, thanks.” Hutch answered.

 

They walked some distance down the block to a local Italian restaurant. As the hostess guided the three of them to a booth and handed them the menus and got their drink orders, the boys began talking about football, which teams they rooted for and then they found out that the one and the other was on the campus’s football team and would attend the training camp in a few weeks’ time. This intense discussion happened while Sue read over the menu.

“So Hutch, where you’re from?” Axl asked the dark-skinned teen as he quickly picked up and scanned his menu, watching as his new friend did the same.

“Chicago.” Hutch said. Axl nodded “Cool. Cool. Sue and I are from Orson, a few towns that-a-way.” He thumbed in the random direction where Orson was.

Hutch nodded, and then asked curiously “So how long are you and Sue been together?” Axl awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck and vaguely said “Uh…we knew each other since we were kids but we just got together very recently. It’s kinda new.” He didn’t mention that he was related to Sue, nor the fact that she was knocked up. He decided not to reveal these very facts until he was sure that his new friend was not judgmental. His eyes flicked to Sue, who was smiling at the menu’s list of food.

 

When the waitress came, carrying the tray of drinks and deposited the orange juice in front of Sue, the coke in front of Axl and chocolate shake in front of Hutch and pulled out the order pad and put it on the tray and said “Ready to order?”

Sue said “I’d like the chicken parmesan please.” And returned her menu to the waitress. Axl said shortly “I’d like a large pepperoni pizza.” And handed his menu back to the waitress. Hutch then said “I’d like a large BBQ chicken pizza, thanks.” Then gave back his menu. The waitress left the table, leaving the three teenagers to talk about various topics. After some wait, their dinners arrived and all three ravenously pounced upon their dinners and started eating, too busy eating to talk.

 

Hutch accidentally let out a loud belch. “Sorry.” The teen apologized. Sue waved away the apology as she finished off her second cup of water that was provided from the table’s jug. Hutch quickly excused himself; going to the Men’s to relieve himself.

 

Sue turned to Axl and said “Remember when Hutch said that he just arrived into town and had no time to look for accommodation for when your football camp starts? Well, why don’t we invite him to use the second room? He can protect me when you’re not around and can be someone you can hang with during training.” Axl nodded thoughtfully.

As Hutch returned to the table, Sue leaned forwards asked “Why don’t you stay at our place rather than either trying to find a place or staying at a motel room once football camp starts?”

Hutch raised his eyebrows in surprise. He looked at Axl in askance, finding him nodding firmly. The waitress returned with the table’s check and the three of them split the check, Axl halting Sue’s hand and giving her a look basically saying that he would cover for her dinner as well, then the three of them pushed their chairs back and began to walk out of the restaurant, Axl’s arm back across Sue’s shoulder and her leaning into him.

“Why don’t you follow us back to our place so you can have a look to where you’ll be staying for the summer?” Axl asked Hutch. Hutch said “Awesome, so where are you parked?” Hutch asked. Axl nodded towards the parallel carpark that was close to the movie theater and said “Look for the light green 1970 Chevy Nova.” Hutch nodded and went in the opposite direction to his car. Axl and Sue continued to walk up towards his car.

 

Axl pulled up to the kerb of the cottage house, seeing the headlights of Hutch’s pickup truck shining in the review mirror. He switched off the engine and they exited the car, meeting up with Hutch at the gate.

“Dude. _Nice_.” Hutch said, seeing the picturesque cottage.

Sue beamed at Hutch as Axl said in a noncommital tone “Sue was the one who picked this place.”

Axl retrieved the keys from the mailbox and unlocked the house and let the other two teens in.

“Awesome.” Hutch said with approval as he looked around. He walked towards to the bedroom areas and peeked in the rooms. He walked back towards the living area and said “Dude, I totally can see myself staying here. This house is awesome and the backyard is a great size for parties.” Then he noticed Sue who was standing in front of the window seat and touching her tummy, he realised that she was pregnant. Sue notices Hutch’s look of realization and exchanges a meaningful glare with Axl.

 

“Dude, we gotta tell you a story…” Axl said wincing. The three of them sit on the couches and Axl began the tale.

Once Axl finished, Sue watched Hutch’s face for any sign of judgement or disgust, but she finds that he's all laid back, relaxed.

They're confused by his surprising reaction.

“You know we’re siblings?” Axl insisted, trying to push him into a reaction.

Hutch calmly said “I do know.” Then shrugged “Love is love.” Off their unsure looks, he began to explain about his two gay cousins who fell for each other.

“…and since then I became more tolerant. You can’t help but love who you love.” Hutch finished, leaning back against the back of the couch.

At this, Sue had an awed and dewy look upon her face and Axl had a relieved and happy expression upon his face.

 

Two days later, Sue and Axl were in front of their house saying goodbye to the family for the summer. Axl tried to detangle himself from Frankie’s overt sobbing hug. Mike, noticing Axl’s desperate pushes at Frankie’s chest gently pulled her back, with her saying through her incoherent sobbing “ I cannot believe my two eldest kids are going away for so long.” Then she began to hug Sue, who subtly bent back, attempting to hide the slight bulge of her tummy. Luckily for her, Frankie was too busy crying to take any notice of the slight movement. Mike pulled her away from Sue and said in a somewhat reassuring tone, reminding her “You can see them when the summer ends, Frankie.” He then let Frankie hug him, sobbing in his chest as he waved at Sue and Axl who were in the car. Axl hooted the horn as he pulled away from the kerb.


	3. Settling In & A Visit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: This chapter is dedicated to my new awesome friend on Fanfiction.Net, universealternating; who also is an Axl/Sue shipper. This one’s for you sweetie <3 P.S. Go and read her awesome Axl/Sue fanfic “Seasons Of Love.”
> 
> AN2: The microfiche information lecture/rant Brick is talking about from a webpage titled “Microfilm – A Brief History” which I took a little part from and restructured around a bit.
> 
> AN3: Sue’s pizza certainly sounds disgusting eh?
> 
> AN4: The ferris wheel scene was totally inspired by “The O.C.” when Ryan Atwood kisses Marissa Cooper on a ferris wheel.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

It was a week later, and Sue Heck woke up with a satisfied groan, due to the softness of the bed. She had the best sleep she had in a long while. But then the urge to pee kicked in. The arm that was across her slight bulge started to stroke while a voice mumbled out close to her ear “Too early. Stay.”

Sue rolled around to face a sleepy Axl.

“I gotta get up; blame the Heck peanut right there.” Sue pointed to her tummy. Axl groaned and took his arms away and scooted backwards a little to let her get up from their shared bed. When they arrived a week ago, they had claimed the master bedroom, leaving the second one for Hutch who arrived an hour later. Unlike Axl’s room back at home, Sue was the one who picked Axl’s clothes up from the floor where they had been dumped and ensured it was kept clean. Sue padded across the bedroom and into the bathroom that was shared with the three of them. At first, it was awkward, with Hutch accidentally walking in on a nude Sue and her screaming in shock and Axl racing in to see what the matter was. After that, a bathroom roster had been introduced. Luckily, it was too early for either of the boys to be up so she took the time to relieve herself and once returning to bed and into Axl’s waiting arms. They fell back asleep, both of them cuddling each other.

Later that day, the two of them were lounging around on the couch, watching TV. Sue’s cell pinged with a text. Sue distractedly flipped open it and read the message.

“Brick wants to come up and visit us for the weekend. And he wants a tour of the campus library.” Sue said, looking up from a text message that was from Frankie.

Sue then hesitantly asked “Do you think he should visit?”

Axl thought for a minute. “Yeah okay, he can crash on the sofa, he’s short enough.”

“Axl!” Sue remonstrated, and then quickly replied to Frankie’s text confirming the details. Within minutes, she got Frankie’s response “Okay, he’ll be on the late bus coming up Friday afternoon and it’ll be our responsibility to put him on the afternoon bus heading back to Orson on Sunday.” Hutch wandered in, coming from the kitchen munching on chips. “What’s the haps?” he questioned, settling on the seat cushion next to

Sue, who was curled up next to Axl.

Sue explained “Our little brother Brick is coming up for the weekend.”

“Cool, it’ll be nice to meet the little guy.” Hutch said honestly. He had heard a lot about Axl and Sue’s remaining family and to be honest, they sounded interesting, with their father’s stoicism and love of sports, their mother’s antics and their younger brother who always had a novel in his hands and his tendency to have quirks like whispering into his chest or whooping at inopportune times. He had heard the tale of the time when Axl forgot to get a certain folder for his assignment and Frankie had to go to the stationery store and accidentally got locked in and when everybody turned up to find her, she yelled at them through the glass not realising they couldn’t hear her. Another tale that was told was the year when Sue’s birthday had been forgotten and at the same time the Heck family’s disastrous trip down to Chicago for Brick’s spelling bee. Hutch certainly thought the stories were hilarious and privately thought the Heck family were an interesting family to know.

 

Suddenly, it was like Axl, Sue and Hutch blinked and it was late Friday afternoon already. Sue waited anxiously at the bus stop, wringing her hands. She kept an eye out for the bus that would carry her little brother Brick. She smiled as she saw her younger brother Brick exit the bus and wait until he found his duffel bag, then headed towards her, shuffling and carrying his duffel. Sue reached him and gave him an ‘hello’ hug and took the bag off him, knowing it might be heavy to him, but was much lighter for Sue to carry. The two siblings chattered as they walked, exchanging stories, Sue’s a bit vague while Brick’s were full of details.

“Wow.” Brick said as they approached the cottage. “I know, it’s so cool.” Sue said with a smile. She unlocked the front door, walked in and deposited Brick’s duffel onto the couch and said “Come on, I want to give you a tour of the campus, and then we’ll go and visit Axl when he finishes his football training.” Sue guided Brick out of the house and locked up again and the five minute trek to campus was full of excited glancing around from Brick and Sue’s excited explanations. Soon enough they reached the library, Brick’s ultimate favourite place in the world. As they entered, Brick’s eyes went wide “Wow. This is like Hogwarts’ library.” Brick scanned the quiet, silent library. It had volumes, volumes of library books in lots of shelves and there were at least three levels worth of library books. He shuffled over to the nearest shelf and picked a book out and began to sniff it, taking in the smell of musty book.

Sue raised an eyebrow and stifled a giggle.

“Um…there is the microfiche machine, which is downstairs.” Sue said awkwardly.

“A microfiche? Oh, why didn’t you say so?” Brick returned the book back to its exact spot and tugged at Sue’s wrist. Sue sighed and led Brick towards the stairs that led to the basement, where the archives and the microfiche machine were.

As Brick stood in front of the microfiche machine, he began a lecturing rant “Did you know that the very first microfiche was the Checkograph machine which was designed by George McCarthy in the 1920s, it was designed to make permanent film copies of the bank records, then in 1928, Eastman Kodak bought McCarthy’s invention…” he continued to talk passionately about the microfiche’s history, with occasional repeat whispers to his chest and a couple of whoops. He then sat down and started to explore the microfiche’s archives. Ten minutes later, Sue subtly glanced at her watch and realised that Axl’s football training was about to finish and instantly cut into Brick’s exploration “Brick, time to go. We can come here another day, or the next time you visit Axl you can come here again.” Brick sighed and gave the microfiche machine one last pat and followed Sue up and out of the library.

 

Sue led the way down to the football field as she reached the field; she squinted down to the goalposts, trying to find Axl and Hutch in the crowd of football players. She mourned to herself that Axl hasn’t been assigned a number just yet. She was really attached to number 32 as his number and she hoped he would receive the number again when he finally gets a position on his team. Soon enough, two football figured teenagers approached from the distance towards her.

“Hey.” Axl said taking off his helmet and taking a long pull of water from his water bottle he pulled out of his sports bag then gave Brick a high-five. Sue and Axl exchanged secretive glances at each other. Sue could see Axl had wanted to give her a welcoming kiss, but since Brick was there he had to restrain himself.

Hutch followed Axl over to Sue and Brick, also taking off his helmet.

“Hutch, Brick. Brick, Hutch.” Axl said making the quick introductions then pulled off his shirt and rubbed his face with it and shoved it inside his sports bag and took off the protective shoulder pads, and like his shirt, he shoved it into the bag, leaving him shirtless.

Sue swallowed convulsively, her eyes drawn to his chest.

“…Pizza for dinner?” Axl asked.

“Uh... what?” Sue asked distractedly. Axl followed Sue’s glance and smirked, and cleared his throat, smirking.

Sue’s eyes snapped up to his face, blushing as she did.

Axl, amused by Sue’s embarrassment repeated “Wanna get pizza for dinner?”

Hutch said “Dude, you know I’m always up for pizza.” He pulled the strap of his sports bag onto his shoulder. Brick nodded with a smile.

“Why not? We’ve been eating healthily for the last week.” Sue said, giving in.

Axl slung an arm around Sue’s shoulder and leaned in and said into her ear “Glad to know you appreciate the Axman’s physique.”

Sue restrained the urge to roll her eyes and shoved him away from her. Luckily Brick was too distracted by looking around the football field to notice this. Hutch noticed this and quickly slapped the back of Axl’s head in a head-slap which made Axl remove his arm from Sue and drop his sports bag and start to wrestle with Hutch.

A few minutes later, after Sue ordered the boys to separate and go and shower, both boys had freshened up and dressed in fresh clothes that were retrieved from their lockers, everyone was on their way to the pizza parlour that was close by near the campus and on their way home.

 

When they were seated at the aptly named _Pizza Parlour_ and the waitress waiting for them to reel off their orders, Sue started with “I’d like an orange juice to go with my build my pizza option – I’d like a large pizza with sausage, pepperoni, ham, mushrooms, black olives, pineapple, gherkins and anchovies on it please.” Hearing this, Brick had a look of disgust on his face at the mention of the mixture of gherkins and anchovies on the pizza and glanced to the other two teens to see their reaction, but they were just reading their menus. He frowned in confusion. Apparently it was normal for Sue to order this kind of pizza lately. He stared at Sue, trying to figure out what exactly was different, but he didn’t put his finger upon the difference. He put it out of his mind as everybody’s pizzas arrived, Sue instantly starting to eat her strange pizza, Axl eagerly biting into his large pepperoni, Hutch ravenously eating his BBQ Chicken pizza and Brick slowly ate his small sized Hawaiian pizza.

After everybody was nice and full and paid for their meals, they all started to walk back to the cottage. Brick and Hutch were behind Axl and Sue, talking. Brick was telling Hutch about the time Frankie spiked the football and it hit up into her face and making her fall into the snow then segued into the time when Sue tried out for cross-country and that when she was out training she then was hit by a deer.

“A deer _ran_ into Sue?” Hutch asked disbelievingly, looking up at Sue, who was talking wildly to Axl, hands describing whatever she was talking about.

“A deer.” Confirmed Brick, nodding ((deer)) then whooped.

“Man. And here I thought deer were calm creatures.” Hutch said sardonically. As the cottage came in view, Brick said “I’m surprised that Sue picked this place. When we went to Chicago, she picked the motel we stayed at, and it was not very nice and Axl had announced that Sue should never be decided anything in our entire lives.” He chest whispered ((Chicago)) then whooped. Hutch chuckled “I heard that story. Sue was very eager in telling me that story.”

As Sue stepped up the steps, she began to stumble. Axl, in a knee-jerk reaction reached out and grabbed her before she would fall.

Brick’s eyes widened as he instantly figured out the truth.

Once they all were inside the house, Brick blurted out to Sue “You’re pregnant,” Off Sue and Axl’s shocked look, he continued “and Axl’s the father, isn’t he?”

Axl and Sue exchanged silent looks at each other.

Axl gave Sue a ‘go ahead’ head tilt.

“Take a seat, Brick; this is a long story…” Sue began, sitting down on the couch, Axl following and taking a seat next to Sue.

Ten minutes later, Sue finished her somewhat redacted story with “You must _promise_ to keep this a secret.” Axl intervened and said warningly “Mom and Dad would _freak_ if they knew.”

Brick nodded and said “I promise not to tell.” ((tell)) then whooped. Sue let out a sigh of relief, stood up and went to get more orange juice, and Axl flipped the TV on and Hutch went into his room to listen to music on his stereo.

 

An hour later, Brick and Hutch surreptitiously watched Sue read the college evaluation program’s guidebook as her head lay on Axl’s lap as he watched TV, his fingers occasionally running through Sue’s hair, both oblivious to the two spies watching them. Hutch and Brick exchanged knowing glances.

Hutch said “Welcome to the ‘I know the secret’ club.” and clicked his beer bottle against Brick's coke can and both boys drank.

 

The morning dawned and everybody was up, wearing their pyjamas eating their breakfasts in front of the TV, watching early morning cartoons; Sue was eating banana covered toast with chocolate sauce on top, Axl was eating hash browns one handed, his other arm slung around Sue with his feet resting upon the wooden coffee table (Sue had given up on constantly asking Axl to get his feet off it.), Brick was eating Lucky Charms while reading his novel at the small kitchen table and Hutch was eating his second serve of toast on top of the already eaten cereal.

“I did some research for ideas to do this weekend since Brick is staying with us for the weekend and there is a carnival at Brown County. Why don’t we make a day of it?” Sue asked everybody in the room.

“I dunno.” Axl said doubtfully, taking his eyes off the television to look at Sue. Brick looked up from his novel and said “Okay.” And went back to the book. Hutch grimaced and said “Can’t. The Dean of admissions rang earlier and they want me to come in to sign papers they had lost. Even though it should have waited until Monday.”

Axl gave a grimacing groan “Dude.” He sympathized.

“Alright, let’s get changed and go.” Sue said eagerly, pulling Axl up from the couch.

 

After a forty minute drive, the three Heck siblings were weaving through the throng of excited people. “Come on, let’s try the sideshow games.” Sue encouraged, pulling Axl along with Brick shuffling along sighing.

As they reached the sideshow alley, Sue picked the Laughing Clowns sideshow game. Sue giggled as she tried to put the ping pong ball in the rotating laughing clown mouth but failing multiple times, dropping the ball as she did. Brick advised “Sue, just wait for the opportune moment to put it in. Like this…” ((opportune)) then whooped. Brick stood still, his hand hovering at the rotating mouth, until it moved to the right paused for a second. That very second, Brick shoved the ping pong ball in.

“Alright, awesome!” Sue and Axl cheered and they each gave their little brother a high-five. Brick tried again, then again until he won.

“Choose your prize, young one.” Said the carnie behind the sideshow arcade. Brick picked a large blue bear. They all walked down, trying to decide what game to try next.

Axl spied the Knock-Em-Down milk bottle game, and said confidently to Sue “I can win you something too.” He strode up to the sideshow and threw down the money and picked up the baseball and pulled a pickoff move Sue recognized when he did baseball last season. His ball instantly knocked down three bottles of the six. Axl grunted annoyed, he was sure he would get it on his first go. He waited until the bottles were re-set then threw again. His second try knocked down four of the bottles. He growled angrily, but Sue smiled at him encouragingly. He relaxed, breathed in and out focusing on the target. Then he pitched the ball.

_“YES!”_ he cheered as all six bottles were knocked down.

“Very impressive pitching skills there, young man.” Said the carnie. Axl picked the large pink unicorn and handed it off to Sue, knowing that her favorite color was pink and that she liked unicorns. Sue gave him a dewy smile and pulled him into a grateful kiss, and he eagerly responded. The smacking noise of the kiss made Brick roll his eyes. As they parted both of them grinning and almost disheveled, they found Brick next door, trying his hand at Lob-A-Choc, a game where he had to throw a pirate gold coin at a block of chocolate. To his total surprise, his third gold coin landed upon a small bar of Kit-Kat and was instantly given it. He one-handily ripped open the chocolate and bit into it and nodded his thanks to the carnie as his other hand was busy holding on the blue bear. They continued down the alley, trying various other sideshow games.

 

“What next?” Sue asked her hand holding onto Axl’s, her other hand supporting the pink unicorn. They just tried their hand at Leap-A-Frog where they had to send a plastic frog ‘leaping’ towards a ‘pond’. Brick’s tummy let out an audible rumble then he said embarrassingly “Apparently I’m hungry.”

“Lunch then.” Axl said with a laugh. They went towards the food servery trailers. Axl got a fully loaded hot dog and a coke, Brick got a mini cheeseburger slider and an apple juice, while Sue was one-handily carrying a bowl that had a large corn while the other hand was carrying the ever present pink unicorn. The three of them headed over to sit on the provided picnic tables nearby to eat their lunches.

Brick, seeing the large corn asked after swallowing a bite of his slider burger “Sue, are you sure you would eat all of that?” ((all of that)) then whooped.

Sue glared at Brick and huffily retorted “You forgot the fact that I’m eating for two now!” and then huffily finished her lunch, ignoring her little brother. Brick widened his eyes at Sue’s hair-trigger temper.

Axl drew him aside and said lowly “Don’t worry. Mood changes are one of the _delights_ of pregnancy. Don’t worry; she’ll be all cheerful Sue again soon.”

Sure enough; when they returned, Sue was cheerful again.

Brick shrugged and returned to eating the remains of his lunch.

 

After some rest, they were up and walking around the carnival again, exploring. Brick then said “How about we try out some rides?” he said, looking in the distance at the rides.

Sue said “Guys, sorry to be a wet blanket, but I can’t go on any of the fast rides in case the baby makes me throw up.” She looked wistfully at the Scrambler, the Cha-Cha, the Slingshot, Graviton and the Skydiver to name a few. Axl eyed the Ferris wheel and suggested “How about the ferris wheel. That’ll be your kind of speed?” Her face brightened, seeing the Ferris wheel and she tugged at Axl’s hand and started dragging him towards the ride with Axl chuckling warmly at her obvious excitement. Brick shuffled after them, shifting his large bear to his other side.

They queued up at the surprising short queue. “I guess the other carnival goers prefer the crazy rides to this one.” Sue said, looking around her. When it was their turn, Sue stood awkwardly in front of the gondola carriage. She wasn’t sure if there were room for the three of them due to their large stuffed animals. Axl said quickly “Brick, get on this one, Sue and I will get the next one.” Sue smiled at Axl then backed off, letting Brick shuffle up and sit upon it and placed the bear safely next to him, and then the carnie pushed the safety bar and thumped the button, the gondola rising up from the ground. The carnie thumped the button again as the next empty gondola came by. Sue and Axl piled into it, Axl gently taking the stuffed unicorn and placing next to him and winding his arm around Sue’s shoulders. Sue said worriedly “I hope it stays stationary, I don’t want a repeat of what happened to Octie.” She recollected the time when her purple stuffed octopus fell off her shoulder and accidentally jammed the machine on a ‘repeat’ Mother’s Day outing.

Axl said “Don’t worry, Horny will stay still.” He leered.

“Axl!” she remonstrated, understanding the double entendre. She then added empathetically “ _I_ will name the stuffed animal, not you.”

Ignoring the interplay in front of him, the carnie pushed the safety bar and thumped the button again, the gondola rising up from the ground. They distantly could hear Brick letting out a nervous ‘ooh’ from above. When the wheel was full of people, they were rotating a full circle, the view of the beautiful county rising and falling. Sue leaned against Axl, simply enjoying the view. Sue looked up to Axl, who was giving her an intense stare. Sue tilted her face up, he tilted his face down and then their lips just met in the middle. They turned into each other, wrapping each other’s arms around eachother's and letting out contented moans.

They continued to kiss as the Ferris wheel rotated, absorbed in kissing each other.

Then they heard a voice clearing.

They parted to see the ride had stopped and the clearly amused carnie standing there, holding the safety gate.

“Uh – right.” They hopped off the gondola, Axl picking up the unicorn on as he hopped off. They headed for Brick, who was sitting at a bench some distance away, his blue bear next to him, absorbed in a pamphlet that he was given. They resumed walking through the crowd of carnival goers, with the two teenagers guiding the still-reading Brick through the crowd, this time Sue carrying her unicorn and Axl lugging Brick’s bear.

 

The youngest Heck sibling asked, looking up from the pamphlet “There’s a cool fire eating show on soon, why don’t we see that?” ((fire eating)) he whispered into his chest then whooped.

Axl grinned, eager “Awesome!” he exclaimed.

_“Fire eating?”_ Sue asked stopping in her tracks, looking queasy, hugging the unicorn that was in her arms.

Brick reassured her “Just a trick, not actual fire eating. I’ve read about it. The handlers’ torches are wrapped Kevlar wicks or cotton. See, the first mention of the act was in 1880s…” and he was off, talking about the history of fire-eating within chest whispers and whoops.

Axl looked amused “You sure read too much, squirt.”

The pre-teen rolled his eyes then continued informing his two siblings about the carnival act as they feigned smiles and nods of understandings.

 

They found the tent quite easily, as there was a wooden mural of an exotic looking woman with a fire stick. They sat down in the middle of the row, Axl and Sue putting the stuffed animals on their laps. When the exotic fire-eater came out, she was wearing a skimpy belly-dancing type of clothing, making Axl stare openly, mouth agape.

When Sue noticed, she scowled and swatted at him.

Axl jumped and glanced at Sue’s dangerous look then cleared his throat, hearing Brick snicker and let out a ‘whipping’ noise next to him.

He sent a glare in his younger brother’s way, but the pre-teen simply just smirked and turned his attention back to the fire-eater.

The exotic fire eater began her performance with lighting up her stick, then relieved the other unlit stick from her assistant then began to lower it to her mouth, intending to moving a little of the fire to her mouth.

“Oh god.” Sue said, covering her mouth, seeing this happen. Without taking his eyes off the performance, Axl took her hand and squeezed it, giving her reassurance. The fire-eater’s mouth was alight with fire then she put the unlit stick into her ‘flaming’ mouth and to the other stick.

Everybody let out whistles of admiration at this small trick. The fire eater continued with her wondrous tricks that amazed and dazed the audience.

When the fire eater finished her grand finale, everybody stood up and clapped loudly.

“That was awesome!” enthused Axl, as he exited the tent among the amazed murmuring of the audience. They didn’t realise the time has passed and it was sunset already. Brick nodded fervently. Sue said reluctantly “It was scary at first, but it was amazing.”

 

“I’m hungry.” Sue said, rubbing her belly, continued “I’m craving something chocolaty.” Axl guided her back towards the food trailers again. She scanned the menu of the trailer.

“Oooh. I want a frozen chocolate covered banana stick.” She announced. Axl put up two fingers and pointed to the aforementioned treat and gave the remaining money he had on him over to the seller.

“Mmm…” Sue mumbled contently as she bit into the chocolaty treat. Brick checked his pamphlet and said “Fireworks will be on soon. Once it’s dark enough.” ((Fireworks)) he whispered into his chest then whooped. He then pointed out the area where it would be shown on the map. Axl said “Let’s find a good area to watch it.” They moved towards the area Brick had pointed out on his map.

 

Once they found the area, they all sat down, Axl shoving the blue bear back at Brick and pulling Sue into his lap and wrapping his arms around her and the stuffed unicorn and started burying his face into Sue’s neck and trailing kisses up and down it. Brick was sitting next to them and flipping his pamphlet around and re-reading it was oblivious to Axl’s amorous mood. After some time, Sue noticed the arriving people and said “At least there are people here this time and it’s the right spot.” Making Axl and Brick laugh in agreement. She was talking about the last summer when Frankie tried to give everybody a perfect summer and she took them to the right park, but in the wrong area with them facing away from the 4th July fireworks.

“And remember when Mom decided to take everybody to the River County Fair simply just to suck up to me, Axl accidentally drove into the demolition derby and ruined my tomato and damaged his car.” Brick said. Axl grimaced apologetically at Brick who just shrugged back at his older brother.

Then they heard the sonic boom of the first firework, and they turned their eyes up to the sky in time to see the first colourful rainbow burst of fireworks. Sue smiled and sighed, leaning back into Axl’s chest as she saw the pinwheel firework, those kinds were her favourite. Then there was a starburst of bright yellow, then a bright blue, then there was white shooting ‘comets’ that brightened the sky, then a large blue and pink pinwheel, followed by another large yellow and green pinwheel, then blue and red ‘dot’ bursts, then a pop-pop-pop of various coloured bursts of fireworks. The glorious show of fireworks continued for fifteen minutes.

 

As the final firework faded and dissipated, everybody began to stand up and leave the arena. Axl helped Sue up and took her hand as they headed towards to the exit.

“That was a beautiful show.” Sue said, smiling. Axl resisted the urge to roll his eyes instead just pulled her to him, letting her wrap her arm and lean up against him.

 

As they drove the forty minute drive home, Sue suggested “How about I do spaghetti for dinner and we watch movies? Everybody picks one movie.”

Axl grins at her and with a quick call to Hutch to ask his movie choice, they stop at the video rental shop and pick out their movies. Then they went to the small grocery store next door for Sue to get the required ingredients for spaghetti. When everybody returned back to the cottage, Sue made a beeline for the kitchen, unpacking the spaghetti ingredients and began to pull out saucepans and the pasta strainer.

 

Thirty minutes later, everybody sighed in satisfaction as they finished the spaghetti, complimenting Sue. “A lot better than the time you tried to do it for Mom and Dad’s twenty year anniversary.” Axl teased, smirking. Mock-insulted, Sue threw a clean serviette at him but missing the target, making him laugh. Hutch raised an eyebrow at Brick, silently inquiring. Brick began to explain the disastrous tale of Mike and Frankie’s 20 year wedding anniversary surprise dinner Sue tried to plan, along with the side tale of the fight he had with Axl had over ruining the ending of his “Planet Nowhere” novel, making him go into a mild state of catatonic shock. Everybody passed the dirty bowls up to Sue who piled them up in one stack and carried them into the kitchen, with Axl following. Without a word, Axl began to run the water and put in the plug and squeezed detergent and put the first bowl in the water as Sue slung a clean tea towel on her shoulder.

 

“Okay, movie time!” Sue said as she finished wiping the last clean bowl. Axl flicked his wet hands at her teasingly, making her laugh-remonstrate “Axl!”

It was an unsaid decision from everyone to let Brick put on his movie on first. Axl jumped upon the couch, Sue following him sedately, letting her pull her to his chest as he flicked on the TV with the remote and switching it to the DVD drive, the screen showing the loop of the 2005 version of _Pride and Prejudice_. As he saw the title of the movie, Axl said “God, this isn’t school, Brick!” remembering it was also a title of a novel he distantly remembered being forced to read for English class last year. Sue said firmly “It’s his choice, Axl.” He rolled his eyes, but assented, pressing play. The movie opened as Elizabeth Bennett walking and reading a book in a field.

“Your kind of girl, Brick!” Axl jeered. Brick glared at his brother then ignored him, paying his attention back to the movie.

 

Both Axl and Hutch kept fidgeting throughout the movie, restraining to hold back insults about the movie, while Sue let out giggles and sighs and Brick was absorbed into the movie and chest-whisper repeating the lines of the characters with intermittent whoops. Once the credits finally rolled, both boys let out a simultaneous sigh of relief. Axl quickly went over to the DVD player and switched out the movie for his chosen movie.

“Dawn Of The Dead? Axl, no!” Sue groaned as she sat back down when she returned from yet another toilet break, when she saw the opening credits of the movie. Axl smirked and tossed her own words back into her face “My choice, Sue.” She sighed and pasted a smile upon her face. She didn’t know it was his ultimate plan, to get her good and scared and have him comfort her throughout the movie.

 

“Ugh!” she pulled an expression when she saw the zombie baby scene. She quickly got up and went to the toilet.

Axl grimaced as he heard vomiting. He sighed and fast-forwarded the sequence and paused.

Sue returned, minty-fresh and a bit pale looking. She buried her face into Axl’s chest and mumbled “Don’t want to see that creepy zombie baby again.” He chuckled weakly and said “Don’t worry; I fast-forwarded so you don’t have to watch that bit again.” She smiled and gave him a grateful peck on the cheek.

After Axl’s chosen movie finished, it was Hutch’s turn, putting Adam Sandler’s _The Waterboy_ on. When it was finished, Sue put on _Bring It On_ , the two male teenagers obviously not objecting at the movie as they exchanged unseen high-fives at the chance of checking out the sexy cheerleaders in the movie. About midway through the movie, Sue muttered to Axl “Think you can do that song?” as she watched Jesse Bradford’s Cliff began to strum out Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" when he saw Kirsten Dunst’s Torrance standing near the door to his bedroom.

Axl snorted and said “Think? No, _CAN_.” He emphasized, confident in his own guitar playing skills.

 

It was Sunday, and Sue and Axl were at the bus stop. Axl handed off Brick’s duffel to the driver who slung it under the baggage area. Sue gave a final hug to Brick and said “Remember your promise. Don’t tell Mom and Dad.” Brick rolled his eyes and said “Don’t worry. These lips will be sealed.” ((sealed)) then whooped. Axl approached and gave him and high-five and said “See you soon ‘kay?” Then moved to stand next to Sue, wrapping an arm around her waist. As the final call for passengers to board, Brick gave them a final thumbs up and a nod and started shuffling to line up behind other passengers.

Sue and Axl watched as Brick got onto the bus and find a seat next to the window and they waved a final goodbye.

As the bus began to move, Brick waved back watching Sue curl into Axl’s chest as they turned around to leave the bus station. He had a niggling feeling that they would go the distance, and stay together no matter what the odds were.


	4. Chapter Four: Sue's First Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: There is a blink and miss character that might be ‘familiar.’ That is, only if you’ve read universealternating’s “What The Heck?” fanfic that is… :D she’s a fellow Heckcest shipper as well. :)
> 
> AN2: The 'bitchy' mean girls featured in this chapter are reminiscent of a meaner version of the airhead Courtney and Debbie from the show. Their names are Carla (the blonde) and Desiree nicknamed ‘Desi’ (the brunette).
> 
> Disclaimer:   
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

Sue woke up and began to stretch luxuriously; looking over to the bedside clock which stated it was eight in the morning. Predictably she heard Axl say “Stay. Sleep.” She shook her head and said to the sleepy figure of Axl, which was almost invisible, with just a tuft of black hair showing. “Sorry, Axl, but today’s my first day of classes.” She made a move to get out, but Axl just rolled over and tried to cuddle up to her.  
“Axl.” she said impatiently and continued “Let go.”  
“Nope.” She heard him sleepily say. She waited until she was sure he had fallen back into a deep sleep and gently detangled herself. 

Within an hour she was completely dressed and on campus, staring at the map and rotating it. She was hopelessly lost. She was trying to find her biology class and she seemed not being able to find it.  
“You seem lost. Can I help?” a cute boy asked, approaching her. Sue said upset “I can’t seem to find my biology class.” She handed him the map and her first class’s schedule.

“Ah, I can see where you went wrong.” The boy said, then started to point in the direction where she needed to go “This is where you need to go.” And he began giving directions with hand motions.  
“Thanks for your help. Oh, I’m Sue.” She said introducing herself, putting a hand out for a handshake. The boy accepted the handshake simultaneously introducing himself “I’m Zac.” Sue pointed towards the direction where her class was supposed to be and said somewhat hurriedly “Um-I need to go. Nice to meet you.”  
Zac gave a bemused wave then Sue began to powerwalk towards her biology class carefully, mindful of her slight pregnant tummy.

When she arrived, she let out a breath since the professor hadn’t arrived. She decided upon a seat and sat down and took out all the things needed: a notebook and a couple of pens, not noticing that she had accidentally flashed her pregnant tummy to an unsuspecting audience. A few minutes later, she began to hear loud whispers from two seats behind her. She raised her head to glance at them curiously. There were two stick-thin college girls, one blonde, and the other brunette. They instantly reminded her of the airhead cheerleaders, Courtney and Debbie from school and randomly wondered if they were related to them. She clearly heard the brunette loudly whisper “Carla, you see the girl in front of us? She’s obvi preggers.” The blonde answered in the same tone “Desi, you’re right.” The whispers increased in sound and she caught certain words such as “Preggo” “Tubbers” “Stretch-Marks-To-Be.” She held back tears hearing such rude words, knowing they were directed at her.

Luckily, the professor had arrived and was starting to talk and write on the blackboard, so the nasty whispers had disappeared for now. Sue began to write rapidly, easily catching up with the fast-talking professor. Apparently, the class was going to study the principles of Ecology. The professor said “I need an assistant to help delegate these handouts today.” Sue tentatively put her hand up. The professor nodded and Sue went up and gathered half of the handout sheets and started to hand them out starting with the opposite side of the room. When she reached the two whispering college girls, she did not see the malicious blonde one slyly putting an foot out, making her stagger forwards and side bump into the professor and fell over him, making both of them let go of the hand-out sheets and the sheets flying all around them. She heard laughter from the students, the laughter particularly loud from the two girls who were the perpetrators of the prank. All the while holding back tears she constantly expressed her apologies to the professor and helped him pick up the hand outs and quietly delegating them out then retreating to her seat and slumping in embarrassment as she felt stares upon her. She glanced up at the clock, praying the class was over so she could leave.

“Next time we will go in detail regarding ecology and how it relates to biology.” The professor finished. As if it was a cue, everybody began to pack up. Sue followed, packing rapidly as she could and quickly rushed out of the class.   
When she arrived home and her back was to the door, she let out body-racking sobs. 

“Sue? What’s the matter?” Axl asked standing up and striding from the couch, as Hutch began to flee the room; unused to crying girls, since he grew up with just three other brothers, and his mom was a level-headed woman, and he never saw her cry at all.  
Sue began to ramble incoherently about her day. Axl got the gist of what she was trying to explain and instantly said “Ignore those bitches. You’re here for the classes, not for those people, okay? And besides, you’ve got me and Hutch, and we like you plenty for who you are.” He pulled her in for a hug and placed a kiss on her temple.  
Sue let out a tentative smile as she curled up into his chest.

“You know what would be a good distraction?” Axl asked with a smile after a while. Sue backed off, looking curiously at him.

“Helping Hutch and I plan our 4th July bash. We’re inviting the football team and other college students who know us over to celebrate Independence Day.” Sue’s face brightened at his suggestion, eager to do something to distract herself from the awful day. “Ooh. We could do 4th of July invites or wait, perhaps Facebook would be better. Oh, we need streamers, American flag stylised decorations, sparklers…” She was off, taking out her notebook and writing ideas for the party as she babbled.   
Axl let out a relived sigh.   
He hated seeing women cry especially if it was his Mom or Sue since he felt helpless when faced with tears and incoherent rambles. He tuned in time to her excitedly say “I could bake a 4th of July marble cake, with the flag colours.”


	5. Chapter Five: July 4th

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: The Fourth of July cake was inspired off an photo off Google Images. If interested to know which one, just PM me and ask for the link :)

It was the early afternoon, and Sue was in the nearest Aldi’s, multitasking holding the shopping list, pushing the grocery trolley and searching for the items that was clearly marked on her list, most of them were crossed off by the red pen that was in her other hand. She avoided hitting another shopper who glared at her, but she was too distracted to notice. She looked inside the trolley seeing Fourth of July decorations, a packet of vanilla cake mix, paper plates, plastic cups and cutlery, multiple bags of chips, hot dog bread rolls, onions, canned chilli, bacon bits, grated cheese, pickles, hot peppers, tomatoes, Mexican salsa, wasabi, mayonnaise and most recently barbecue sauce and tomato sauce. She was on the hunt for tabasco sauce, then would move on to finding bulk boxed cans of soft drink. Of course, she wouldn’t think of putting the carton in the trolley by herself, she would ask a nearby store attendant for that.

She began scanning the shelves for the diminutive but notable Mexican sauce. Once seeing the green foil-like sticker on the neck of the cologne-like sized bottle, she let out a sound of success and grabbed two bottles of the original and the habanero flavour. 

With help from an shop clerk, she loaded the bags and the cartons of soft drink in Axl’s green Nova. She was surprised when Axl handed her the keys, trusting her with his car. She knew nobody but him drove the car and refused to let either of the parentals borrow the car even if they asked.

“Yoo-hoo!?!” Sue called into the house, juggling with her key and two bags full of groceries. She walked into the kitchen and began unpacking the groceries onto the counter and began putting food into plates or bowls. Then returned for the last two bags and repeated the procedure. She picked up the large bowl full of chips and wandered out back and found the boys out back at the barbecue. Axl was wearing a red shirt and royal blue board shorts and his favourite leather flip-flops, while Hutch wore a American flag stylized singlet and red board shorts and blue flip-flops. Hutch was crouching near the gas canister, checking if they had enough gas for firing up the barbecue. Once he ascertained that there was enough, he stood up and grabbed the newspaper that was on top of the barbecue and started cleaning the grill. Hutch said to Axl “My dad was the ‘Barbecue King’ and insisted on teaching me and three three brothers to properly barbecue.” 

Axl raised his head, noticing Sue who was putting the bowl of chips at the nearby patriotic decorated large fold-away table, which she had decorated that morning, went over to her and told her to sit down, continuing “You have been like Taz, whirling around, you should get some rest.”   
Sue said plaintively “I need to do the punch and the cake.” And then remembered “Oh, can you or Hutch get the cartons of soft drink out and put them in the tubs of ice?” she waved towards to the tubs that were nearby which already had beer and wine coolers in it that was covered with more than enough ice. 

“And after you do the punch and cake?” Axl prompted.

“I’ll rest.” She reassured him. Axl gave her a kiss on the temple, and went through the house and snatched up his car keys to retrieve the soft drinks from the car.

Sue returned to the kitchen and started reading the instructions off the packet, put the oven on and prepared the Bundt tin then once the cake mix was ready, she separated the mixture into two other bowls, dropped a couple of drops of blue in one bowl, red in the other then dropped alternate spoonfuls of the three mixtures into the prepared cake tin, used a knife to gently swirl the batters together to create a marble effect then tapped the base of the pan on a flat surface to smooth the surface and eliminate any air bubbles and placed the cake in the oven. Then she started making the punch, which was raspberry flavour with blue coloured star ice floating on top. When she deemed the punch was ready, she carried it out back, but Axl met her halfway and took the bowl from her and raised an eyebrow pointedly. She rolled her eyes but returned to the house.

After her rest, she quickly changed to a American flag stylized glitter heart shirt and red jeans and put on red glitter flats and then made her way downstairs. Sue smiled at the clean dishes and utensils, knowing Axl did the washing up without asking. The cake was already out and cooling on a rack. She had warned Axl to keep an eye on the cake before she went for her nap. She checked upon the cake and discovered it was cool at her touch. She put the finishing touches on the cake frosting it repeating the marbling procedure, slathering it with three different coloured frosting then put red, blue and white sprinkles upon it. She took it out back finding the sun was slowly sinking, the sky a mixture of peach and purple colour. Hutch was manning the now sizzling barbecue talking to two girls while waving the barbecue spatula around enthusiastically, while Axl was tossing a football back and forth to a group of fellow players and laughing loudly. 

After setting the cake down, she began to serve her dinner and walked over to a lawn chair nearby and sat down and began to watch the party while eating. When she was finished, she went over to get some of the cake, which was now a half-circle. After eating her last forkful of cake, she mingled with Hutch, who was trying to pick up an audience of giggling girls. Then when she found she was thirsty, she returned to the house for a bottled juice then she watched the fireworks when she heard the popping sound. Halfway through she got tired and returned to the house and walked into the shared bedroom, and discovered that Carla, the blonde college girl that was mean to her was trying to flagrantly flirt with a resistant Axl who was backing away from her. Sue’s eyes narrowed and she stormed up to her and pulled her off Axl and gave her a punch, then instantly swore heavily as she hurt her knuckles when the punch landed. Carla, terrified of Sue’s furious expression and worried of being hit again immediately backed off and ran out. Axl laughed and pulled Sue into a grateful kiss. Once parting, he teased “Thanks for the rescue, Rocky.” And then placed a kiss on the sore hand, then retrieved a bag of frozen peas and carefully placed it over the sore knuckles.

He then said “How about a movie?” he went over to his disorganised pile of DVDs and pulled out his chosen DVD puts it in the DVD player and once it was revealed it was Independence Day on the TV, Sue groaned. 

“What? It’s a great patriotic sci-fi action movie and it’s got Independence Day in the title. Plus it got Will Smith; he’s awesome in that movie.” He reasoned.

Sue rolled her eyes but assented, curling up to Axl and began to watch the movie.


	6. Chapter 6: Return To Reality...and Family.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:   
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

The last few weeks had flown by quite quickly. Thankfully Sue hadn’t had to suffer the mean girls’ nastiness again. Apparently after she punched Carla, the blonde girl got an black eye for her troubles, and the other girl somehow convinced her equally mean friend, Desiree not to say anything mean and had stayed away from Sue; most particularly when she was in the classroom. They now had chosen a seat that was in the far opposite side of the room, far away from Sue. When Sue told Axl, the other teen had laughed and said “They must have figured out not to mess with the pregnant chick.” 

It was now July 31st, the day when both Sue and Axl were due to leave the cozy cottage that now felt home to them. Fighting away tears, Sue finished shoving the last lot of her clothes into her last bag, angrily trying to shut the zipper of her duffel. Axl stepped up to her and forestalled her frustrated hands and took over and zipped it shut properly and hefted it onto his shoulder and took Sue’s hand and walked out to the lounge room area. Sue paused for a minute, Axl letting her stop for a moment. She took in how silent the cottage seemed, going through memories of their stay, like the first time Hutch accidentally walking on Sue and the loud scream she let out, the sit-down with Brick informing him of the pregnancy tale, the various movie-nights they all had, the July 4th bash… she let out a wistful sigh. 

Axl tugged at her hand and they headed towards the front door. When they got outside, they locked up and returned the key to the real estate lady who was waiting, the two stand awkwardly with Hutch, whose red jeep was loaded up with his own stuff. 

Then it was like a dam burst and Sue began to cry.

Axl pulled her into a hug comforting her.  
“I don’t want to leave. I just don’t want to tell Mom and Dad about…” she gestures to her slight bump that now seemed a bit more obvious now. Axl sighed and placed a kiss on her temple, silently agreeing with her. He was not looking towards it either.

After a while, Sue wiped her eyes and pulled away from Axl and quickly hugged the dark-skinned beanpole. “I’m gonna miss you Hutch.” Sue said sniffling softly into his shoulder.  
Hutch returned the hug and said “I sure did like spending time with you. Take care of yourself, girlie. And Axl dude, look me up when classes finally start.” Hutch says the latter to Axl who gives him a fist-bump and a nod.

When they arrived home, they heard Frankie’s loud shout of “They’re home!” as they reached the front door. The front door swung open and Axl was immediately ambushed by Frankie’s hug.   
“Mom!” he protested, reminding her of his policy of no hugs. In no way in hell Mom should know that he now only allows hugs from Sue. When Frankie let go, Axl quickly sidled inside, dumping the load of bags on the floor of the lounge room and quickly was down to his boxers and then quickly went to the kitchen and rifled through the cabinets and discovered a packet of chips, ripped them open and grabbed an handful and shoved them in his mouth and chewed noisily. 

Frankie then turned to Brick and said annoyedly to the still sitting Brick “Your brother and sister are home, aren’t you going to say welcome back? Well?” Brick gave her the one minute finger, and then once he finished his page, he placed his finger on the page and looks up and waves “Hi Axl, Sue. Welcome home. ((welcome home))” Then returned to his book, making Sue and Axl chuckle at their little brother, Axl’s laugher a little muffled due to the chips in his mouth. Frankie rolled her eyes and turned her attention finally to Sue while Mike gave Axl a high-five and Axl regaling him with tales of football camp. Mike’s interested sounds were interrupted by Frankie’s shriek of surprise.

“You’re pregnant?” Frankie shrieked, seeing Sue’s stomach and pointing at it.

“Uh… surprise?” Sue said, instantly making Axl break into amused laughter-coughs. Sue internally grimaced. This was not how she wanted the news broken. She planned to have them sat down at the table and deliver the news gently. But all was moot since Frankie had noticed the belly straight away. 

“But… how…when…” Frankie stuttered wordlessly.

Sue quickly exchanged a glance with Axl, who gave her an almost invisible nod. They had decided on the barest truth: that Carly and Sue snuck into the Grad after party and she drunkenly slept with someone. Of course, only four people knew the actual, whole cold truth: Axl, Sue, Brick and Hutch.

She sat down on the lounge chair and began spinning the tale she and Axl had carefully constructed over their summer. Luckily, in between the program evaluation and Axl being busy football camp, Axl had given various lessons on how to lie properly. So Axl wasn’t surprised that she delivered the whole lie without any evidence of the ‘so on, and so forth, and what have you’ hint that she was lying. Axl hid a smirk behind the quickly emptying packet of chips he was looking into. He had coached her out of that obvious tell. Frankie instantly collapsed at the circular table burying her head into her arms moaning unintelligibly into the table “Oh my god. Oh my god. What are we going to do?” and Mike’s stunned silence, staring and gaping at Sue’s stomach. He looked like he was hit by a truck. 

A truck named Sue.

Sue sat up straight answering Frankie “Well Mom, I’ve actually researched this.” She shook the sheaf of printed paper she already had pulled out. “I already booked an appointment with Ms Marsh and Principal Cameron tomorrow morning, and with the information I provided, I can still go to school until I can’t, and from that point onwards then I’ll do online classes, have my assignments and class notes emailed to me. And then after I give birth after some time settling into a routine, I can return to school for maybe two or three days a week, the rest of the days I can remain home-schooled and look after the baby until graduation. Then after that, who knows?” she finished optimistically. 

At this, Mike and Frankie were in total shock. Not only their daughter was revealed to be accidentally pregnant, but she intelligently had worked out a way that she would not have to drop out of school. 

"Now, may I be excused? I need to go and unpack and call Brad and Carly to meet me. I need to tell them the news before any rumours reach them.” She went over to the pile of bags and picked up the lightest bag then glared at Axl who made an aborted move to get up from the lounge.

Sue shut the door behind her and dumped her bag and opened it as she simultaneously flipped open her phone and pressed number two, the speed dial number assigned for Carly first, then when she answered, “Hey Carly. Are you free tomorrow?” Sue nodded as Carly answered with “I’m free.”   
“Great. Meet me at Sweet Sunday’s at three after my appointment at Orson High.” She sighed and admitted “I gotta tell you and Brad something shocking. This kind of news needs to be told over icecream.” She continued to multitask unpacking and returning the things to where they previously were whilst talking to Carly about her summer at East Indy, albeit redacted. After some more talking from Carly, she finally hung up and hit Brad’s speed dial number, which was three. The conversation was basically the same as Carly’s, only with more worry.

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed without any fanfare. Mike’s shock had faded into anger. He barely paid Sue any attention over the dinner table, his attention focused on Axl; prompting him to tell more stories of football camp. Frankie was in as state of worry, fussing over the amount of food Sue ate saying “You should eat more, after all you’re eating for two now, Sue.”

When she was tucked up in her bed, Sue ruminated upon the events of the afternoon and night. The door silently slid open and Axl snuck inside, creeping over to her and getting in.  
“Couldn’t sleep, the bed was too big.” He mumbled uncomfortably when Sue prompted him the reason why he wanted to sleep with her. Sue privately knew that Axl was used to have her into his arms as he slept, but would plead the fifth if anybody asked. Sue had to admit to herself that she also liked the feeling of being held by Axl as well.

By the morning, Sue woke up feeling bereft. Axl had snuck out and climbed back into his own bed in the early morning. She wished that he would have stayed, but that risked being caught by Frankie who would definitely come into her own conclusions. Conclusions that could be eerily close to what could be the truth.

Shaking away this dreadful thought, Sue begrudgingly got up and dressed; noticing that her jeans were tighter around the waist and realised that she needed to ask Frankie about maternity clothes and where exactly to get them. Once she was fully dressed she exited and went into the kitchen, where Frankie was waiting with a steaming bowl of porridge made with milk and flavoured with a pinch of cinnamon and a glass of apple juice. Sue looked confusedly at the bowl. Frankie was famous for providing pre-made breakfasts, but this was…different.  
“What’s this Mom?” she asked, still confused.  
Frankie said “You need a nutritious breakfast. You can’t get away with eating certain foods that isn’t good for you. Now eat before it goes cold.”  
With a sigh, Sue began to eat her provided breakfast.

After a while, she noticed Mike was silently reading the newspaper and still ignoring her presence and Frankie’s somewhat haggard look “Mom, are you and Dad alright? Wait, will you get divorced? Oh my god, this is my fault!” she began to cry due to her fluctuating hormones.

Frankie intervened before Sue would get even more upset and said “No, no. We’re not getting a divorce. I’ve been trying to get your Dad to see your point and that it wasn’t your fault for getting pregnant, but your Dad still sees you as that cute three year old daughter who went to ballerina classes and who would cry if someone ran over a cat. Don’t worry, he’ll come around soon. Just give him time.”

Sue nodded, sniffling.

Once she finished her breakfast, she stood up and was about to take the bowl and glass to the sink; but Frankie swooped in and took them away before she would even touch them and said “Go and relax on the lounge. I’ll bring you another glass of apple juice and you can read my People magazines.” Sue sighed and swallowed her annoyance and did what Frankie said, wanting to stay in the good books with at least one parent even if she was on the outs with the other. A few minutes later, Frankie was fussing with a blanket on her lap and saying “Do you need anything else? Want some dried apricots, nuts, muesli?” 

“She’s not a fucking invalid, she’s just pregnant; Mom.” Axl spoke from behind, making both Sue and Frankie jump.   
He had just returned from an Boss Co. job, flush with money.  
“I am just making sure she’s alright, Axl.” Frankie said wounded, then disappeared into the laundry.  
“Axl! Now she will be mad at me. I don’t want both of my parents mad at me. Now I gotta talk to her and make sure she’s okay.” Sue said crankily, snatching the blanket off her and getting up and following Frankie into the laundry.

It was two in the afternoon and Sue was knocking on the door of Principal Cameron’s office.  
“Come in.” the deep voice said.  
The principal looked up from an intent discussion with Jane Marsh, the school’s counsellor. As Ms Marsh noticed who it was in the doorway, she had a shocked look upon her face. “Sue? You’re the student who’s pregnant this year?”   
Principal Cameron hurriedly gestured Sue to the chair in front of his desk. Once seated, Sue began to say with a defiant look on her face “I have some research with me that I can still attend classes while pregnant. There is no way dropping out is an option for me.” She said this, cradling a hand over her stomach protectively, the other hand handing over the research to Miss Marsh.

Principal Cameron said calmly “Don’t worry Miss Heck; we’ve gone through this before, with a student giving birth at the school before. Unfortunately, that student did not inform the school of her pregnancy otherwise we would have given her support. The very same support we will give you.” Then the three of them began to discuss arranging the reduced class timetable workload for Sue. Ms Marsh then suggested “Instead of P.E being compulsory, you will do compulsory parenting class instead.” In an a hour’s time, she got back into the Church van and headed over to Sweet Sunday’s. Once she entered, she discovered she was there earlier than she thought and she suddenly had a craving for fro-yo. She scanned the flavours until she got to peanut butter flavour and she started to drool. She handed over the money and got her medium sized peanut butter fro-yo and headed over to a booth and sat down and began eating it. Within five minutes, Carly and Brad arrived both apologising. 

“Sorry. Jason was at my house with flowers and singing love songs. And he’s a bad singer. He had been doing that all summer. I’m not taking him back though.” Carly finished petulantly, folding her arms across her chest defensively. Brad then said “I have to apologise too, my tap-dancing class ran overtime. There was an issue with two students wanting the exact same dancing solo for the up coming Autumn performance.”

Then Brad and Carly noticed the fro-yo Sue was eating and exchanged wondering glances at each other without Sue noticing.

“That’s alright.” Sue said, waving off the apologies, then got up to hug them.

As Carly stepped forwards to receive the hug, she reacted first “You’re pregnant!?!” Carly shrieked loudly. Brad followed Carly’s glance immediately said in a deep and tonal voice “Oh Jesus.”  
Sue looked at him oddly.   
She was used to Brad’s voice to being excited and rapidly cheerful. 

After Carly had apologised to the shop proprietor, the three teenagers sat down in the booth. Sue began to give them the redacted tale of the story.

“Oh that’s right, the embarrassing drunken story. I guess that one’s yours.” Carly said remembering as she eyed the slight baby bump. Brad airily commented “And that’s why you’re eating peanut butter fro-yo instead of your regular strawberry flavour.”   
Brad and Carly both gave their support and said that they could help out if needed. After a tearful hug from Sue, they all left the icecream parlour off to their separate cars.

As Sue made her to the Church van, her phone went off and it was Frankie; asking her to pick up the elderly Church parishioners from Church and drop them to the hair salon. Sue quickly agreed and got into the Church and drove over. When she parked, she waited in the van ten minutes, but she didn’t see any of them exit. But then she was itching to stretch her legs, so she exited and locked the van and entered the Church. She stood at the aisle staring up at the mosaic window image of Jesus. She sighed thinking that she committed incest and was having a baby borne of it. 

Immediately uncomfortable, she turned around to leave, only to bump into Reverend Tim-Tom.   
“Sue Heck. Good to see you.” Reverend Tim-Tom says, then discreetly notices Sue’s tummy and politely doesn’t mention it.  
“Oh, hi Reverend Tim-Tom. Um, actually do you have a minute? I have a question for you.” 

Reverend Tim-Tom nods “Sure thing, Sue Heck.” and they sat down at the nearest pew. Sue then told him her tale without naming who the baby’s father and saying that she guilty about withholding that very fact from her parents. Without judgement, Reverend Tim-Tom had listened silently throughout the tale. Sue finished with “Do you think I should completely be honest to my parents?” Reverend Tim-Tom picked up his guitar and begun to sing a song with the theme of telling the truth when she was ready. By the end of the song, she realised the answer and thanked him with a smile and then her eyes found the impatient group of seniors who are at at the door and said “Ooh, I got to go. Thank you again for your advice Reverend Tim-Tom.”  
“No problem Sue Heck.” The young reverend said with a smile. She got up from the pew and approached the elderly parishioners who instantly clucked over her and asked questions after questions and those who were close to her was touching the tummy awed. She led them out of the church, politely answering their questions and forcing a smile upon her face as she felt one too many hands on her belly.

When Sue returned home and was sitting at the dinner table with a plate of a piece of pre-made Shepherd’s pie and nutritious steamed vegetables, along with a glass of apple juice. The others had Dive n’ Out burgers and fries. Brick intervened “Why can’t Sue eat burgers too? ((Burgers)).” 

Frankie said snappishly “It’s not healthy for a pregnant woman. She needs to eat nutritiously for the baby’s development. We don’t want the baby to turn out all deformed.”   
Panicked, Sue glanced at Axl, who froze with a fry mid way to his mouth. They had forgotten there might be possible abnormalities. Then she snapped to attention as Frankie spoke distractedly as she poured another glass of apple juice and pushing it her way “Sue, I booked you an appointment with the obstetrician for tomorrow. It was lucky they had an appointment free. I’ll go with you so that way you would have someone with you when you need paperwork to be done or someone to support you.”

Sue stared up at the celling of her room both panicking internally and being excited at the idea of getting her first look at the baby. She didn’t move her eyes from the ceiling as her bedroom door opened and shut nor when she felt the bed dip.  
She felt Axl’s arms come around her and his voice at her ear “I wish I could go with you to the appointment.”  
“You know you can’t. If you come, Mom would get suspicious. But I promise to get a sonogram printed out for you.” 

She felt a kiss upon the junction of her neck and collarbone and smiled to herself.


	7. Chapter Seven: A Visit To The Obstetrician

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.
> 
> AN: Fellow readers of universealternating’s “What The Heck” will see another familiar character pop up. :)
> 
> AN2: There are two current Heckcest themed Tumblr blogs, so if you’re interested or curious, you can visit the blogs. I’m the moderator of lumberjacklawyers, while fellow fanfiction.net member and friend; universealternating is the moderator of Heckcest. Also, x4ashes4ashes is a moderator running shipcestuous, an incest shipping blog and Axl/Sue are one of the incest relationships she ships.

Frankie and Sue entered the obstetrician’s office and while Sue scanned the room for free seats, Frankie went up to check them in. When Frankie returned, she had a clipboard with a form in one hand which she handed to Sue once she had sat down.

Sue stared at the medical form. There were questions such as the reason for the visit, the menstrual history, birth control history, sexual history and various other questions. Overwhelmed, she burst into tears, dropped the clipboard and powerwalked to the closest toilet. Frankie picked it up from where it lay on the floor and started to write most of the information she knew onto the papers.

Sue blew her nose with a piece of toilet paper and threw it into the nearby bin and wiped her eyes. She took a steadying breath and stared into the mirror “You can do this. You gotta be strong.” Then with a determined nod, she pulled open the toilet door to exit only to bump into a wavy haired blonde girl with glasses, only to unbalance both of them due to both of them having pregnant stomachs, only the other girl’s looked a month or two further. Instead of getting angry, the other girl giggled.

Sue instantly apologised, but the other girl responded “Nah, no worries. By the way, I’m Sally.” Sue, in return introduced herself.

 

“Sue?” Sue heard Frankie call from behind her.

“Sorry, that’s my Mom. It’s nice to meet you. Good luck with your baby.” Sue said, glancing at the other girl’s stomach. Sally nodded and said politely “And you with yours as well.”

She gave a farewell wave and hurried back to Frankie, who handed the clipboard back to her and said “I filled in some of the areas, but you’ve got to complete the rest, since I don’t know some of the other answers.” She said pointedly, meaning the question about the first day of the last menstrual period.

“Sue Heck?” she heard the obstetrician call out. She was tall, willowy and red-haired. Frankie and Sue stood up and walked towards the obstetrician and began to follow her down the hallway.

 

Within minutes she was situated in the sterile room, wearing a patient’s hospital gown and patiently waiting for the obstetrician to return with the technician.

“Alright Sue, I’m Dr. Ellen White, and this is Melody, the technician who will be operating the sonogram machine for us today.” Melody, a cheerful looking Indian waved from over at the sonogram machine.

“Alright Sue, let’s lay back and let me take a look…” Dr. White said with a gentle smile. Sue obeyed, grabbing hold of Frankie’s hand for support. Dr. White gently pressed her stomach and asked the regular questions, then said “OK, we’ll have a look-see and check upon the baby.” She glanced over to Melody who wheeled the machine over. Melody moved the gown up and warned “Apologies in advance, the gel is cold.” As Sue flinched when she put a liberal amount of the cold gel upon the small bulge that was her pregnant belly. Once everything was set up, and the machine was switched on. No sooner, Sue could see and hear the baby. She could see the slight movement and the butterfly-like thrumming sound of the heartbeat.

 

Dr. White began as she checked the screen as Melody kept scanning the area “Alright. The baby is approximately fifteen weeks. You’re just entering in the second trimester. The size of your baby is a size of a navel orange and weighting around 85 grams and is starting to look like a baby. Your baby has the coordination and strength to wriggle his or her fingers and toes and even suck a thumb. At this point the baby will be starting to kick but unfortunately you won’t feel it just yet…” she continued to list more developmental points about the baby.

Sue hesitantly asked “So there’s nothing? No abnormalities or anything?” at this, Frankie frowned and asked herself lowly “Abnormalities?”

Dr White replied, with a gentle smile upon her face “This question is quite common, your baby’s scan showed the baby is 100% healthy. Don’t you worry, Miss Heck.” Then she began to go in detail what would happen next with the baby’s development.

Sue’s relieved and dewy eyes wandered back onto the sonogram machine and the image upon the screen.

Frankie’s cell phone rang interrupting Dr. White who glared at Frankie and pointed at the ‘no cell phones’ sign. Frankie mouthed ‘sorry.’ And went to answer it.

Melody asked Sue “How many copies of the sonogram would you like?”

Sue said with a beaming smile upon her face “Three please.” The cheerful technician nodded with a smile.

 

When Frankie returned, she re-took her seat.

Melody then handed Sue the sonogram print outs, who tucked them away.

Dr White took off her latex gloves and said “Alright. You are required to take prenatal vitamins.” She swung around on the computer chair and faced the computer and after some tapping, she printed off the prescription script and held it out and Frankie took it out of her hand before Sue would reach out for it. Dr White raised an eyebrow, but said “Alright, that is it for this appointment, Miss Heck. See Adalind out front to book the next appointment. The next appointment should be at 24 weeks, which is about a month’s time.” Melody gently wiped the sticky gel off and assisted with realigning the patient’s table to make it easier for Sue to hop off.

After Sue got changed, both of them exited the examination room and while Sue went to the toilet, Frankie went up to the counter in front to book the next appointment. While she was waiting for Adalind, the administrator to get off the phone, she saw a flyer advertising baby birthing classes. After Frankie quickly arranged the next appointment and got an appointment card and tucked it away, she picked up the flyer and brought it over and showed it to Sue and said pointedly “This will be helpful, you might learn something.” Sue sighed and took the flyer and said “I’ll think about it, Mom.” She then rummaged in her pocket and picked out one of the copies of the sonogram and handed it to her “Mom, this is for you and the family. You can stick it up on the fridge if you want.”

Frankie took it and looked at it with a sweet smile upon her face. “Aww, thanks Sue. Now, come on; we need to go maternity clothing shopping. Very soon your shirts and pants won’t fit you.” Frankie gestured at the clothes Sue wore.

Forty minutes later, Sue and Frankie were sorting through the maternity clothes section at _JJ Macky’s,_ the local discount store; trying to find something that was Sue’s style, yet that would fit her once her belly started to stretch out in an obvious way. She already had picked an shirt that had a unicorn and a rainbow with “Don’t stop believing.”, a rainbow with clouds shirt, a shirt that had ice-creams and the word “love” in capitals among a few more shirts as well as some stretchy pants and a couple of colourful maternity jeans.

 

While she was distractedly was listening to Frankie ramble, she spotted _Tot Spot_ , a baby shop next door. She instantly handed the maternity clothes to the still rambling Frankie as she searched through the clothing section. Sue curiously entered the store and is surprised by the multitude of things: baby necessities, baby toys, clothing, bedding, prams, everything that seemed baby themed. She wandered around the store, picking up random items and looking at them and putting them back down. Then, she discovered the baby clothes. She picked up an onesie titled “I Love Mummy” and instantly burst into tears. Frankie, who caught up with her with purchases in two plastic bags, asked tentatively “Are you okay?”

Sue incoherently sobs and nods then shooks her head and simultaneously said “Yes. No. I don’t know… Why I’m crying???” she finished upsettingly.

Frankie knowledgably and reassuringly said “It is hormones. Your emotions can change with a drop of hat. It’s normal when you’re pregnant.” She pulled Sue to her chest in a reassuring hug and gently wrestled the onesie out of Sue’s fingers and returned it to where it came.

 

When they arrived home, Sue swung open the door and gasped in shock.

“Dad! You scared me.” She said to Mike, who was sitting on her bed, reading her old baby book that Frankie had given to her that morning, with a small bear tucked into his arm. Mike shut the baby book and stood up and uncomfortably paced the room shifting the small bear in his hands.

He spoke “I was scared and angry when you told us you were pregnant. I mean, my sixteen year old daughter…” he began to get choked up.

“I’m still angry, but you’ll get through the pregnancy with my support and you will be a great mom. Just love the kid and I’ll be around if you need me to help at all.”

“Oh, Dad!” Sue gave a watery grin and rushed into Mike’s arms, forgetting that she held the sonogram in her hand. He tentatively returned the hug.

“I love you Dad, don’t you forget that.” Sue said into his chest. After some time hugging, they parted and Mike retook his seat and left some space for Sue to sit down as well.

“Uh, here. I bought this for you today at lunch. When I saw it, I thought of the baby.” Mike said, handing the small bear to Sue. When Sue took it, she looked at it; the bear was a light brown colour with a red hoody with a white heart stitched into it pronouncing “I Love You.”

“Aww. Thanks Dad.” Sue said, getting up to hug him again, holding back the tears not wanting Mike to panic.

 

After Mike left, Sue looked at the bear again and burst into tears for what seemed the fourth time that day.

 

After her overly emotional sobfest, she went in the bathroom, and picked up a clean face washer and wet it and wrung it out and wiped her face with it, ensuring the salty tears were wiped away.

 

“Hey.” She heard Axl say casually.

She looked up to find him leaning against the closed door.

“Hey.” She said back and then she remembered the other sonogram burning away in her pocket. She rummaged into her pocket and picked it out and gave it to him. With a confused look upon his face, he took it.

“Oh.” Axl said as he looked at the black and white photo of the baby with a sweet smile upon his face.


	8. The Drop Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.
> 
> AN: This is it! The start of the Heckcest twisted season 5! P.S the JPLA ‘essay’ is replaced by the application for the reduced class schedule Sue is going to do throughout this fic. And before you ask, JPLA won’t be featured at all in this fic.
> 
> AN2: The dialogue is from The Middle 5x01 “The Drop Off”

Sue woke up with a need to go to the bathroom due to the baby insistently pressing against her bladder. Simultaneously, she heard Axl yell “I am so out of here!” and then heard him race into Mike and Frankie’s room and excitedly said “Dad, come on! Let's go! You gotta drop me off at college.” She rolled her eyes as she walked towards to the bathroom to relive herself. When she finished and washed her hands, she returned to her room and quickly changed into a pair of purple maternity pants and a cute strawberry top that just barely fit her and put her green rebooks on. She pushed up from her position on the end of her bed and slightly was unbalanced, but Axl caught her as he came in.

“Dad and I are off to college. So here…” he gave her a deep kiss. When she pulled back she asked blinking, “What was that for?”

“To remember me while I’m away.” He smirked, and then left the room.

Sue shook her head with a slight smile upon her face and started making her bed.

 

“Brick, Sue; let's go! We got to take your brother to school.” Frankie called from the hallway, and as she passed Sue’s room, Sue said confusedly “Axl said it was just him and Dad going.”

Frankie retorted “Well, Axl was wrong. We are all taking Axl up to school.”  
Sue said in a panicked tone “What? No! I can't do that - not today. Today is when I find out my restructured class schedule, and I don't want to miss the call.”

“Well, they’re gonna have to call you on the road, then, because this is an iconic moment, - and we are all taking Axl up to school.” Frankie insisted.

“Mom! What did you even get him a car for if we all have to drive him?” Sue questioned, even though she knew the answer due to Axl telling her last night, but she had to keep up a cover of obliviousness of the situation.

Frankie said crankily “He left it up there at Orientation. And I don't have to explain anything. We're all taking your brother to school!”

Sue let out a resigned sigh, her shoulders slumping.

 

After a rant about the college list and being lazy parents from Frankie, they were all on their way to the college, with a side trip to _Bed, Bath and Between_ for Axl’s things he didn’t even get, and Brick getting a cellphone; then a discussion about Axl’s college fund that wasn’t even a fund, a stray mention of the Death Napkin that quickly upset Sue.

Then while Sue wiped her tears, her phone rang, she excitedly answered it, knowing who was on the other end.

“This is she.” She said after a inquiring question from the other end. She gave Axl a dirty look seeing he was still munching away loudly with the mouthful of snacks he shoved into his mouth. He rolled his eyes in response.

“What? _What?_ That's weird.” Sue said into her phone, and then continued “What do you mean you don't have my application? No, you have the application. I-I turned in my application. My mom faxed it from her office.” She covered the phone and insistently asked “Mom, they said they never got my application. You faxed my application, right? You _did_ fax my application?” she finished with an insistent glare. But then the noise of Brick accidentally dropping his cell phone when he was attempting to get reception outside the passenger window while they were driving interrupted Sue when she was about to give an angry rant to Frankie.

 

As they were searching in the shrubbery for Brick’s lost cellphone, Brick said to Sue “In fairness to Mom, you really never should've trusted her to fax it in the first place. I mean, face it. She's not the most responsible.”

Sue gave a tired glare towards Frankie, who said nervously “Look, we can fix it. We’ll fix this. I- I still have it in my purse. Maybe there’s a _Kinko’s_ nearby and we can fax it now.”

Sue’s face brightened “Ooh! _Ooh!_ That’s a good idea!”

Axl interfered, pushing off from his agitated lean against the car “No! No _Kinko’s_! The only ‘K’ place we're going is college!” then he said to himself “Wait a minute.” Then he went off, the rest of the family not noticing what he was doing.

“Okay, they said if I fax it by 2:00, they'll approve it.” Sue informed everybody in a relieved tone as she hung up her cellphone.  
Frankie said brightly “That's great!”

As Sue checked her cellphone, she gasped “That’s only fifteen minutes.”

 

After stopping Axl from trying to walk to East Indy and a quick side stop to the nearby _Kinko’s_ to fax Sue’s application, then backtracking to pick up Brick’s lost cellphone from a Good Samaritan, and a couple more toilet trips, they _finally_ arrived at East Indy, and it was a three hour trip when it should have been a forty-minute trip.

 

Sue grimaced and felt sick as she saw a random college guy throw up right in front of them all, while Axl said with an grin upon his “Awesome!”, instantly knowing the was finally at college from just that view. After going through registration and getting the dorm room information, they finally found Axl’s dormitory room and met Kenny, his non-responsive roommate, who was too busy playing a computer game.

Sue quickly excused herself since the baby was pressing against her bladder for what seemed like the fourth or fifth time that day. As she was walking back towards Axl’s dormitory room, she found him racing towards her with a huge smile upon his face but he stopped and backtracked and pulled Sue aside and pressed her up against the wall and leaned in and pressed his lips to hers in a long and ardent kiss. Sue closed her eyes in pleasure.

After a few more minutes making out, with some light petting and Axl leaving a hickey low on the junction of the shoulder and neck, Sue pushed him off and said “Mom’s expecting me to return so you better go to wherever you were going.” Axl gave one last kiss and strode off, whistling and exchanging high-fives with the college guys who had witnessed the making out, not telling them who Sue was; letting them suspect that it was just a random freshman.

 

With a bit of time to calm down, fix her hair and swollen lips and hiding the hickey, Sue returned to Axl’s dormitory room in time to hear Frankie sniffle sadly and Mike say “I know. It's hard to say goodbye to Kenny. Let's go.”

 

Later that night, Sue was curled up in her bed trying not to cry. Usually Axl would sneak in and stay most of the night with her, wrapping his arms around her and putting a hand on her tummy and they would quietly talk through the night before falling asleep.

But tonight, she felt lonely and cold. She forced back a sniffle as her cell rang.

“H-Hello?” she asked.

“Hey.” Axl said, and her face brightened. It might not be the same having him in her bed, but it was better than nothing.

“The luau party I tried to throw tonight was lame, only a couple of people showed up. It wasn’t the party I had in mind.” Axl explained.

 

They stayed up the night talking on the phone. It was comforting to Sue just hearing his voice even if he wasn’t even in her bed physically.


	9. Chapter Nine: Back To School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

From the kitchen, Sue could hear Frankie simultaneously knock and yell panicky “Get up! Get up! First day of school! I mean it, people! We are not gonna be the la-” then as Frankie stood in front of them, she is surprised both Brick and Sue are already up.

“You’re up already.” Frankie said in a monotone.

Sue nodded saying “Yep. Turns out with no Axl pulling his dirty underwear over my head yelling “Time’s up!” and dragging me out of the bathroom, I had time to shower this morning. I was even able to rinse and repeat.”

Sue privately thought shaking her head to herself … _or lately, trying to persuade me to share showers with him, insisting on water conservation as a reason._ And turned her attention towards the banana covered toast and apple juice she had organized for breakfast.

Then they heard Mike simultaneously knocking and yelling “Get up! First day of school! Get up! I’m sick of-Oh.” He stepped into the kitchen finding his daughter and youngest son at the breakfast bench already up.

Frankie said in an obvious tone “They’re up already.”

Brick said “I couldn’t sleep anyway, it was so hot. When are we getting the air conditioner fixed? I tried packing myself in popsicles, but I woke up covered in ants.”

After Mike went off a rant about prices and when to fix the air conditioner at the right time and Frankie texting Axl to remind him to transfer out of a class, Brick telling the legend of the eighth grader waiting for a sixth grader to give them a swirlie, Sue picked up the Church van keys and was about to leave when Frankie reminded “There’s a birthing class on this afternoon. You said you will go to the first one.”

Sue sighed and said “Fine, yes I’ll be there.”

 

Within a hour, Sue sighed blissfully as she walked down in a hallway with Brad.

She gleefully said “Oh, my God. This feels amazing! I can't believe I'm actually getting to walk down this hall.”

Brad agreed “I know. Me too.” Then he paused and looked confused saying “Wait. Why?”

Sue explained “Axl's locker was on this hall, and he would never let me walk down it, even though I had a class here. I would have to go outside, and the old crossing guard would lift me up so I could crawl through the window.” She finished, rolling her eyes.  
Brad said confusedly “Sue, we don't have a crossing guard.”  
Sue paused mid-walk and inquired “Huh. Then who was that?” then she shrugged and continued “Anyway, I am free now. I can go wherever I want. I can do whatever I want. I can even dance down this hallway, and there's no one here to call me a dork.” She finished triumphantly.  
Brad said cheerfully “You don't have to ask me twice!” then the two best-friends began to dance down the hallway, Brad gracefully dancing, while Sue’s was clumsier due to her pregnancy, but both them just gave into the pure joy and happiness and screamed out _“Whoo!”_ then her phone rang. Without checking for caller id, she answered with an inquiring “Hello?”

“Hey.” Axl said from the other end as he tossed a Frisbee to another freshman.

“Oh, hey.” Sue said, her voice changing from the inquiring tone to a nervous one.

Noticing the tone, Axl asked “What are you doing?”

“Ah, nothing; just school.” Sue said her hand going to her tummy and rubbing it absentmindedly.

“Hang on. If you’re at school… where exactly are you standing?” Axl asked, straightening and ignoring the Frisbee as the freshman threw it at him again. The freshman shot him a glare and jogged up to pick it up. Axl just gave him a sneer and walked off.

“Uh…” Sue tried to think of an distracting topic on the spot, even though she finally learnt how to properly lie, she wasn’t very good at thinking one on her feet.

“You’re in the hall where my locker was aren’t you?” he said, finally catching on.

Sue just opened and closed her mouth like a fish at her phone.

Finally she retorted “You’re not at school anymore therefore I can walk down the hall.”

Then there was a silent response, just his breathing on the line.

“Axl?” she worriedly asked, but then the bell rang.

“I’ve got to go, I don’t’ want to be tardy on my first day back. We’ll talk later.” Sue hurriedly said into the phone and hung up without waiting for a response.

She grabbed the pile of books from the still waiting Brad and with a hurried thank you and farewell, Sue headed into the different direction for her first classes.

 

As she drove to her birthing class, she ruminated upon the day. Her classes weren’t hard as she thought, due to the lightened schedule. Luckily she still had the same lunch hour as Brad and Carly so she caught up with them while she was eating the lunch Frankie had packed; which was a cheese and pickle sandwich (on wholegrain bread)and a banana. Luckily she was craving pickles on sandwiches she was happy with what Frankie prepared. Then she had her afternoon classes. And now she was on her way to her first birthing class.

 

When she arrived outside the classroom where the class was supposed to be at, her cell rang. After checking the caller I.D, she answered “Mom?”

She heard a crinkling noise then Frankie came on the line “Sorry Sue, I can’t come to the first session. There’s a emergency dental client and Mr. Goodwin needs me to assist with him.” With more apologies from Frankie, Sue hung up and then Sue slumped her shoulders and leaned against the wall.

She was alone.

Frankie couldn’t come and Axl was forty minutes away and she was sure he was mad at her for this morning, and Dad was busy at work and Brick was at the library so he couldn’t accompany her. She tried not to cry, but her hormones were too fluid, so she let a tear roll down her cheek.

“Are you alright?” a familiar voice asked. Sue looked up to see that familiar girl she met a while back when she had the OB appointment.

Sue nodded, hastily wiping the tear away.

“Wait, don’t I know you?” the other girl said then she waved a finger trying to remember Sue’s name.

“Ahh… Bathroom Girl. Wait, your name’s Sophie…Sonnet…Sonya…Sueanne… _Sue_ right?” she exclaimed happily as she finally remembered the name.

Sue nodded in surprise, other than Reverend Tim-Tom, nobody would remember her name after meeting her for the first time.

The other girl grinned and re-introduced herself.

Sue noticed the tall Latino type guy dancing tango steps behind her and couldn’t help but stare at him. He was extremely hot.

Sally noticed Sue’s obvious stare and said “That’s Carlos.” She leaned in and whispered as if she was sharing a secret “We had one hot night of sex but it went wrong and well...” she gestured to her belly.

The two girls began to discuss their pregnancy and comparing symptoms, then when the door opened and the birthing teacher said in a harried tone “Come in, class.” She raised her head and noticed there were at least twenty other pregnant women, all in different stages of pregnancy. She realised, other than her and Sally these women were in the ages of twenty to thirty years old.

“Welcome to Birthing Class 101.” The teacher said. She wore large glasses and was dressed quite flamboyantly, and wore a scarf. Sue thought the teacher reminded her of Mrs Darbus from _High School Musical_. She tuned back in to hear the teacher say “I am Ms. Evans.” Sue’s eyes bugged as she remembered Sharpay and Ryan’s last name was Evans in the movie. She struggled not to giggle at the coincidence. Sally looked at Sue weirdly and asked “Are you alright?” as she noticed her new friend’s shoulders were shaking in held-in laughter. Sue whispered “I’ll explain later.”

“Excuse me?” Ms. Evans’ glare was pointed towards the whispering girls. Sue and Sally grimaced but stayed quiet throughout the lesson.

After the class, Sally asked her if she wanted to grab refreshments and a snack and explain why she was laughing. Sue accepted and then the two girls were sitting at the _Denny’s_ , with their chosen refreshments and Carlos waiting outside, still going over the tango steps. Sally had explained that Carlos was a tango teacher and she met him when she was taking basic tango lessons since she wanted something ‘new’ to learn. Sue then explained Ms. Evans and the connection to High School Musical, then the two girls were cackling wildly about it.

Sally said “I’ve noticed Sharpay and Ryan don’t act like siblings in that movie.” Then that discussion segued into them sharing their favorite movies. After a while, Sue noticed the time and said her apologies and then after exchanging cell phone numbers, both girls exchanged an awkward but warm hug even though their pregnant bellies were in the way.

When Sue arrived home, she found Frankie, Mike and Brick already eating dinner at the small round table. She quickly joined them and dug into the baked salmon with sweet potato wedges and corn on the cob Frankie had ‘prepared’ (the salmon was from _Red Lobster_ , the sweet potato wedges and the corn on the cob was from _Rib Time America_ ). Frankie hesitantly asked Sue coped OK without her at the birthing class. Sue began to tell everyone about Sally and Ms. Evans and what she learned in the class in a excited rambling tone.

Afterwards, Sue lay on her bed, staring at the cell phone in her hands. She silently plead it to ring, but it remained silent. Letting out a resigned sigh, she pressed the speed dial for Axl, and put it to her ear hearing it ring.


	10. Chapter Ten: The Visit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.
> 
> AN: In this universe, Brad works at Spusy Malone’s, not the Great Hot Dog Adventure.
> 
> AN2: The Church doesn’t take the van back because they know Sue’s pregnant and would require proper transport to school until she gave birth.

Sue lay back on the adjustable hospital bed her gown pushed up and As Melody put the cold gel and the sonogram wand running across the belly. Doctor White announced as she watched the screen “Your baby is developing at 22 weeks and congratulations you’re halfway through your pregnancy. You should be starting to feel fetal movement possibly at the end of the month, and should feel more energy and eating more heartily and there should be fewer mood swings…” She then continued to list the important developments both physical and emotional that would be happening during this week.

After a while, Sue was allowed to sit up properly and Melody handed the new sonograms to sue who had a teary-like smile upon her face. Frankie, who was sitting next to her holding Sue’s hand throughout the whole experience gently tugged a copy of the sonogram out of Sue’s hand and glanced at it. “Aww, look at that!” Frankie exclaimed.

She tried to give it back to Sue who said “That one’s yours, Mom.” Frankie smiled and tucked it into her purse.

 

“Come on, or we’ll be late for Church.” Frankie said. She helped Sue get up from the adjustable bed then waited politely for her to change back into her maternity clothes that still were Sue-like.

Then they walked out to the waiting room where Mike was intently watching the pre-game discussion regarding a Colts game, and Brick was reading a maternity magazine. When Frankie noticed, she power-walked over to Brick and snatched it out of his hand and hissed “Read something else!” and put it back upon the pile of magazines that was on the coffee table and nervously smiled at the taken aback pregnant women that overheard the moment.

Sue was at the counter organizing another OB appointment, turned around and saw the clock and her eyes nearly bulging, she said “Mom, let’s go or we’ll be late for church or Reverend Hayver would give us _that_ look.”

Frankie looked at the clock and nearly yelped “Come on, hurry up!” she pleaded at her son and husband. Mike sighed and got up, while a annoyed Brick had yet another magazine pulled out of his hands (this time, it was _People_ magazine) then they were all hurrying towards the elevator and waiting impatiently.

 

Fifteen minutes later, Frankie was muttering angrily at the car in front of her since it was driving slow. Finally after the car in front of her turned, everyone clutched at their seatbelts as Frankie quickly sped up. Mike said “Frankie, slow down; after all you’ve got a baby on board.”

Frankie in an exhausted tone “I _know_ , Mike.”

After a few more minutes, she finally turned into the Church carpark and with some luck she found a park right in front of the Church. They all scrambled out of the car and hurried up the stairs and into the Church and quickly found seats.

“We just made it in the nick of time.” Frankie muttered to Mike as Reverend Hayver began opening his mouth.

 

“Verse 8 says, ‘charity never faileth.’ Everyone here today has been touched by the church's generosity - some more than others. What precedes charity is faith and hope. You have faith in the object of your charity, and you hope that someday, it will be returned to you.” Reverend Hayver gives the Hecks a pointed look.  
Frankie whispered from the edge of her mouth to Mike “Crap. They want the van back.”

After the service finished, everyone tried to hurry towards the Church van.

But then the Reverend was standing in front of the van, with two ‘toadies’, one on each side, his arms folded. Frankie began mock cheerfully “Reverend Hayver. Oh, great sermon today. It was entertaining, but it also made you think.”

“We want the van back, Frankie.” Hayver said.

Sue piped up and said “What about me? I need transport to school.” She put her hands on her hips in a stubborn move.

 

Hayver stared at her, blinking then turned back to Frankie. “Fine. You can keep the van, Frankie. However…” he paused dramatically then finished “Young miss Heck has to be the only one who drives it. Then when the baby is born it has to be returned.”

Frankie gave an exasperated sigh “Fine.”

Frankie gave the keys over to Sue under the gimlet stare of Reverend Hayver and walked around to the passenger side.

Sue gave Reverend Hayver a hug and said “Thank you so much.” The reverend was flustered and looked embarrassed by Sue’s overt display of emotion.

Then they were on their way home. Frankie said from the passenger seat “Thanks for the save, Sue.” Brick said “Yeah, your pregnant state certainly saved us a long walk home.” Right about then, the car started to stall, and the car started sounding weird. With a surprised look from Sue to Frankie, she began to pull the car over and just as she did, the engine died.

“No, no, no!” Frankie panicked as she unclasped the seatbelt and got out to hurry around to the hood, with Mike following with a worried and serious look on his face. When the hood was popped up and Mike was looking at the engine, Frankie said “I should have known God was on Hayver’s side. _He_ probably made us break down.”

Mike, head still under the hood, as he figured out what the problem instantly retorted in a sardonic tone “God made the fan belt break? I don’t think so.”

Frankie groaned and said “Mike! I told you to take the van in for a service last week.”

Sue said in a panicked tone “I can't go back to riding the bus. Do you realize how big of a dork I'll be if I get back on that bus?” then she started petting her tummy in an effort to stay calm. There was an awkward silence, and then Brick piped up “I miss Axl.” Sue cut a glance across to him silently agreeing. In a way, Axl’s sarcasm always had calmed down and focused Sue in a way.

 

When they finally arrived back home, they entered and heard Axl say in a strident tone “There you are- finally!”

Frankie sighed and said “Axl, what's going on? Why aren't you at college?” Axl started to rant “I have the world's worst roommate. I'm not kidding. The guy is a total pig. He leaves his crap everywhere.”  
Frankie said in an exhausted tone “Really?”

Axl barreled on “And he farts constantly, even though he's like two feet from my head!”

Sue said “Really?” in a cranky tone as she shifted her sore feet, and rubbed her back.

Axl continued “It's impossible rooming with the guy! He acts like I don't even exist.”  
Brick then piped up incredulously “Really?”

Axl barreled on insisting that the parents kick in some money for a single dorm, then getting annoyed when they refused with Frankie following with some advice “Axl, look. Why don't you just talk to your roommate, be diplomatic? You can be very persuasive and charming when you want to.”

Axl sighed huffily “You’re no help.” Then he shoved off the couch and shambled into the kitchen to grab some more food, leaving the others to sort out their problems.

 

Two nights later, Axl crawled into Sue’s bed. Due to her deep sleep cycle, Sue never noticed as her bed dipped as he crawled in and slumped next to her. In the morning, Sue tiredly woke up and did not notice her new acquired bed partner and stumbled out into the kitchen wearing her long pink unicorn night shirt that stretched over her belly and grabbed a glass then poured her apple juice in it while Frankie handed her a bowl of porridge made with milk and flavored with a pinch of cinnamon. Sue cheerfully burbled “I’m going to visit Brad at work. He’s working at _Spudsy Malone’s_. Apparently he’s saving up to buy a car.” Then Axl came in and grabbed her glass and drunk it in one go.

“Mom, Axl stole my juice!” she grumbled out automatically.

Axl, give your sister the juice back.” Frankie said, not realizing Axl already drunk it. And the fact he was _there_.

“Whatevs.” Axl said as he rolled his eyes and reached for Brick’s cereal bowl.  
“Mom!” Brick said as Axl stole Brick’s breakfast bowl.”

Automatically, Frankie said “Mike.”  
Then Mike automatically said “Axl.”  
Then everybody froze and looked up to Axl, who was sitting at the bench and eating Brick’s cereal bowl as nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Mike said “Don't take this the wrong way, but what the hell are you doing here?”

Axl said “I couldn't spend another minute with my nightmare of a roommate, so I drove home last night and slept in my bed.” He finished, lying. Sure, he had came home, stood in his room staring at his bed then undressed down to his boxers and snuck into Sue’s room and climbed in and went to sleep straightaway.

Brick muttered “I thought I saw a strange man standing in my room.” Sue then internally thought _why didn’t I notice him in my bed last night? He didn’t wake me up for a make out like usual..._

She tuned in time to hear Frankie say “Axl, you can't just come home anytime you want. And, Brick, in the future, if you see a strange man in your room, you should probably scream or run.”

 

It was now after three in the afternoon and a few hours after school had finished for the day and Sue was standing in front of Brad who was in his work uniform and manning the cashier at _Spudsy Malone’s_.

“Sue, did you hear about Courtney and Debbie slapping Brian Jones today?” Brad said excitedly, sharing a piece of gossip he was holding in all day.

“Actually, yes.” Sue said in a surprised tone as she scanned the brightly lit menus behind Brad, and continued “When I was sitting in Chemistry class, I could hear Courtney and Debbie were complaining about Brian and how skanky he was from behind me. Apparently, he cheated on them with the hot student from Finland.”

Then her eyes landed on the week’s special, the tuna and cheese potato, and then said “Brad, I’ll have the special.” Then rummaged in her bag for her money while Brad went to collect the potato and returned rolling his eyes and saying “They’ll get over it and glom onto someone else. After all, they are total airheads.” Then he clapped a hand across his mouth, as he realised he was bad-mouthing two Orson High students. Sue picked up the potato take away box and opened it and put a fork into it while rolling her eyes and said “I can’t believe Axl went out with them, thinking he dated one of them but ended up dating both of them.” Then scooped a bit of the potato onto her fork and stuck it into her mouth.

As the flavored potato hit her tongue, she let out a contented mumble groan “This is so good!” she backed off to sit at a nearby table to relive her sore ankles. She didn’t notice Brad’s incredulous expression as she ravenously ate the potato, but he didn’t say anything knowing not to upset the pregnant girl.

She instantly ordered more to take home for the family wanting to share the golden mine of awesome tuna and cheese flavored potatoes.

 

"I made dinner!" Sue announced as she burst into the house, her take-away bags held aloft. Within minutes, the bags were taken from her and noises of chewing reached her. “I was visiting Brad at his work, _Spudsy Malone’s_ and when I decided to taste the special, which was tuna and cheese, and liked it I knew I had to bring it home for everybody.”

She did not notice Brick and Frankie discreetly spit into a napkin after taking a bite of the odious tasting flavoured potato, nor Axl’s grimace as he forced down a forkful, then discreetly tucking it away and taking a swing of the soda provided.

“This is terrible.” Mike said straight away after taking a bite, forgetting that Sue could clearly hear him.

“Mike!” Frankie said in strident tone, noticing Sue’s excited and encouraged expression had crumpled into tears and ran to her room and slammed

Axl groaned and said instantly “Dad!” then he went off on an angry and incoherent rant, making Mike and Frankie exchange surprised glances at each other. Brick then piped up “The maternity magazine I read said not to upset a pregnant woman. I have interpreted it to that it’s better to lie rather than tell the truth.” ((better to lie))

Axl pointed at Brick “See?!” then after letting an annoyed shout, he stomped off and started to bang on Sue’s door.

“What’s up with Axl?” Mike asked. Frankie shook her head “I don’t know. Maybe he’s maturing and wants to look after his sister?” she suggested. Then they looked at each other and laughed, knowing Frankie’s statement sounded ridiculous to them.

 

It was the next afternoon, and Sue was at the birthing class. She had persuaded Frankie not to come, citing that she has a new friend in the class and that she would be okay by herself in the class, but then Frankie had sarcastically said “Well is your friend going to be there for you when you go into labour?” but then she gave Frankie her pleading look making her slump her shoulders and mutter “Fine.”

Shaking off the memory of the morning’s conversation, she sat next to Sally upon yoga mats and was trying not to stare at Sally’s new boyfriend, named Brock. He was talking loudly and gesturing with his hands to the next yoga mat’s partner who was nodding rapidly. He was big, burly and muscular. She could not put her finger upon why he was familiar looking. _Other than reminding her of Emmett Cullen from the Twilight movies, that is,_ she chided herself.

But then when the memory of Axl and Hutch’s 4th July bash they all threw back in the summer floated into her mind, her eyes widened. She now vaguely remembered him there, and realised he was one of the East Indy footballers.

“Didja see that awesome running back in that IU game last week?” Brock exclaimed to the other man.

Sue leant sideways towards Sally and said lowly “Where’s Carlos?”

Sally waved an hand dismissively “He couldn’t make it. He has a tango competition down in Indy, so I brought Brock instead.”

Sue raised her eyes in surprise. “How did you meet him?” she curiously asked eying the burly footballer.

“Oh, I was tutoring him in English but instead, he tutored me in the language of lurve.” She said and wriggled her eyebrows.

 

A sharp clap sounded from the front of the class. Ms Evans was dressed in her usual flamboyant outfit, scarf included.

“Today we will be viewing a birth video to prepare you all for the reality of the actual birth.”

There were groans or muttered complaints among the class, but Sue was curious what the video contained.

Ms Evans rolled in a tall metal frame on wheels that held a TV and a VCR and inserted the tape into the VCR and walked back across the room to switch off the lights.

 

As the opening credits showed on screen, there was an introducing voice over in a monotone _“Welcome to the wonderful delights of childbirth…”_


	11. Chapter Eleven: The Rescue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> AN: First off, so so so sorry for the delay of the new chapter even though I have free time on my hands (methinks maybe too much lol) sometimes I can’t seem to get a chapter (or one-shot if it’s the one-shot series) done due to horrible writer’s block, but yay finally broke that wall and got this chapter done!
> 
> AN2: Darrin already broke up with Angel and wants to date Sue again but he doesn’t know she’s pregnant… also Sean came up with the concession stand idea (much better than the original idea of the VIP seating Axl came up with in the canon episode) Also the Orsontennial cookies were inspired by Sue baking the Christmas cookies in “Christmas Help”…
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.

It was Friday, and Sue was once again attending the birthing class that was just after her last class, trying to pay attention to whatever Ms Evans was saying. This time, she was sitting near the back with Sally and her new boyfriend, Trent. According to Sally, she met him at an East Indy frat party and apparently had magic hands. Sue wasn’t fond of him; because he kept saying “What up, Milf!” every time he saw one of the beautiful pregnant women in the class. She had commented to Sally that she preferred Carlos or Brock rather than Trent because he was a total jerk.

At the end of the birthing class, Sue reached into her handbag and pulled out an cute invitation and handed it to Sally and said “Here’s a invitation for the baby shower. I decided on a baby shower instead of a normal Halloween.”

Sally smiled and said rhetorically “Oh, cool so I get to meet your family and friends huh?” making Sue nod slightly confusedly then Sally nodded her assent and added “I’ll be there then.”

 

Later that afternoon, she was bored and constantly changing channels on the TV, looking for something entertaining to watch. Then she heard the doorbell ding and with a grumble, she clumsily got up and answered the door. To her surprise, she found the back of Darrin, who was muttering “Sue, want to go out?”

“Darrin?” she asked confusedly.

Darrin turned around, revealing that he was carrying a bear and flowers. Darrin just stared blankly at the obvious bulge Sue had, and asked “You’re pregnant?” then once his surprise faded, he began to get angry “I broke up with Angel because I thought you were the better kind of girlfriend, but you went off and got knocked up by someone else. I guess I didn’t know you at all.”

Sue began to cry, alerting Axl; who was home for the upcoming Orsontennial, which was on Sunday. Axl came up behind Sue and angrily said “Are you an idiot?!? Sue’s pregnant, you shouldn’t upset a pregnant woman!” then to punctuate his point, he said “You do not hurt-” he almost stuttered, but continued “You don’t hurt my sister!” then he shoved Darrin off the doorstep, making Darrin stumble backwards and slamming the front door on him. Behind the closed door, Axl pulled Sue into a comforting hug.

 

The next morning, Sue was concentrating on finishing her homework.The house phone rang, punctuating the silent house and with some arguing between Mike and Frankie, as Mike reluctantly answered; it was Nancy Donahue who was the head of the Orsontennial float committee and was asking Frankie and Mike to confirm the commitment of being a float driver. After some confusion from Frankie until she remembered a certain moment from the street party on 4th July. Mike and Frankie had to listen Brick list his ideas for the Orsontennial slogan competition. As Brick reeled off starting with “Orson – 100 Years of Moderate Progress.” The doorbell rang, and Mike, desperate to get out of the boring conversation he instantly gestured to the door and held up a hand, but Axl immediately yelled as he hurried towards the door “I’ll get it!”

Axl swung open the door, revealing Sean and a nervous Darrin behind him.

“Dude.” Axl regarded Sean in a friendly tone then coldly said to Darrin “And ex-friend.” Sean enthusiastically responded to Axl “Dude!” then glanced between the two as he noticed Axl’s cold reception towards Darrin.

Axl let them in, and once they arrived into the living room; Axl straddled the armchair’s support, while Sean sat down next to him, grabbing some chips from the bowl on the coffee table and Darrin sat on the other end as if he was trying to stay away from Axl. After a few minutes, Darrin caught sight of Sue in the kitchen since she was foraging for food. He glanced into Axl and Sean’s direction; the two were talking in depth about a video game Sean had discovered. Darrin snuck away and apologized to Sue, who due to her forgiving nature forgave him right away.

Axl witnessed this without Darrin knowing and decided to forgive Darrin as well.

After few minutes of guy bonding, which was simply hanging out and annihilating enemies in their favourite video game “Guys, I’ve been giving this a lot of thought. There’s no telling when Orson’s gonna have another centennial, so how’s Boss Co. gonna make some cash off this thing?” Axl asked the boys while they were playing a game on Axl’s gaming console.

Darrin pressed a combination of keys on his joystick and said distractedly “Hey, we could be those guys that put all the cones out for traffic and stuff.”

“Whoo!” Sean yelled in victory as he annihilated an enemy then said in a patient tone “Darrin, I think the city does that.”

Darrin suggested again, continuing to concentrate on the game in front of him “We could pick up the garbage.”

“The city does that too.” Sean said, trying not to laugh as he saw Axl shake his head and closed his eyes in obvious annoyance.

“Dudes, we’re not manual-labor guys. This is Boss Co. with college knowledge.” Axl insisted.

“Yeah.” Sean and Darrin chorused, agreeing.

Sean suggested helpfully “How about a Boss Co. concession stand? My Mom still has a lot of the awesome brownies left over and…” he began listing food ideas for the concession stand.

Axl nodded with an thoughtful look “I like it.”

Darrin murmured his agreement his eyes glazing over at the images of food floating into his brain.

“Let’s do it!” Axl said, enthusiastically.

Sean agreed empathetically “Boss Co. 2.0.”

“Whoo!” Darrin yelled both in agreement and cheering as he annihilated another enemy in the video game.

“Yeah!” Axl said, punching his fist in the air in celebration, then said “Three-way high-five!” as he put up both of his hands and all boys high-fived each other, then turned their attention back to the TV and their video game.

 

As the day dawned upon the Orsontennial, and while Mike and Frankie were being woken up by Nancy Donahue’s loud hooting horn from their sleeping bags on the ground next to the cow float; Axl, Sean and Darrin set up the Boss Co. concession stand that Sean suggested on the opposite end of the street. Sean had offered up his mom’s gooey chocolate brownies; Sue had baked Orsontennial themed gingerbread cookies and made a large pitcher of lemonade and Axl made tiny versions of gourmet sandwiches and Darrin made some fairy bread (as requested by Darrin’s little sister).

When Axl saw Sue carrying the third lot of Tupperware boxed food which was stacked up in one of arms, her free hand carrying a jug pitcher of lemonade,

Axl said “Whoa, whoa, whoa. What are you doing?” and took the packaged food off her.

“Uh, carrying food?” Sue asked rhetorically.

“Sue, you’ve been on your feet all morning. You’ve been baking, then icing, then helping carry out the boxes. You should rest.” Axl insisted.

“Axl, I’m fine.” Sue retorted, which was true she wasn’t even tired nor her feet weren’t aching.

“No you aren’t.” Axl argued, thinking that she needed to rest.

Sue huffily put down the pitcher of lemonade with a loud thump, the movement accidentally splashing some lemonade onto the table.

She turned to Axl, hands on her hips and said sarcastically “Go on, give me some of your gems of ‘ _wisdom_.”

She waited, then Axl groaned “I’m not doing this now. We’ll talk later.”

“Fine.” Sue said stubbornly.

“Fine.” Axl said mockingly.

Sue narrowed her eyes and almost shouted “Fine!” then stomped off.

Axl sighed, and then was momentarily distracted by the toaster that Darrin just bought.

“A toaster, Darrin?” Axl asked confused.

Darrin said “ I bought Poptarts. I thought we can rig up something and get some electricity from one of the houses so we can offer toasted poptarts.” He grinned, proud of his idea. Sean and Axl exchanged looks, Axl’s a resigned look and Sean’s an uncertain look.

“Fine Darrin, you do it. I’m gonna go and find Sue.” Axl grumbled then went into the direction Sue disappeared, hearing Sean say to Darrin “So, how exactly would we do this?”

 

Elsewhere, Brick was lecturing the stadium crowd “…what will future generations think? Do we really want this motto? Is this the legacy we want to leave our children?” then a random woman in the crowd shouted “Free shirts!” when she saw the parade people tossing shirts into the crowd.

Brick continued sarcastically “Oh, sure, grab them up just 'cause they're free.Just 'cause it's on a t-shirt doesn't make it right!” but then a shirt landed on his head, then when he took it off to look at it, he gave a resigned grumble “Shoot, I'm a sucker for a good font! Curse you, Sans Serif.” Then he quirkily whispered into his chest ((Sans Serif))

 

Nearby, Frankie and Mike, who was stuck in the Cow float, were arguing about their respective persons they sucked up to as Nancy Donahue and Bill Norwood overheard them over the walkie-talkies and they heard Nancy stridently saying “Um... float operators? Please switch to channel 3 for all domestic disputes.” Frankie and Mike panicked and switched off the walkie-talkies just as they slowly started to head down the direction of the Boss Co. concession stand, where Sean and Darrin were in the middle of selling food, Darrin persuading the children to buy heated Poptarts by demonstrating.

As the cow float drove past, the cow’s horns unknowing snagging the overhead rigged electricity cable and dragging it until it snapped, instantly sparking the papier-mâché top part of the cow. Once seeing the flame, everyone around the Cow float screamed in shock and started to flee, and just then the cable then dragged the rest of the cable making the toaster fly off the Boss. Co concession stand, an Poptart flying out of it instantly making the people around the concession stand scream even louder and ducked or fled, making Sean yell automatically and confusedly “What the heck?” and Darrin could do was gape in shock as the toaster flopped around on the road as it was dragged by the cable.

“Cut that cord!” Sean said, snapping out of his shock and chasing after the cable.

Darrin quickly followed Sean and said “I don’t know how to do it safely!”

Sean snapped “Dude, I thought you said you knew electricity!”

“I didn’t study that yet!” Darrin shouted back panicky.

 

As chaos erupted on the streets, Frankie was inside the cow; was complaining about how everybody hated them, until Mike noticed how hot it was in his area it was around then Frankie heard both Nancy Donahue and Bill Norwood shout the word “Fire!” Frankie yelled “Mike, Mike! We’re on fire!” Mike instantly got out and helped Frankie get out, and as they moved aside, they watched the runaway flaming cow slowly trundle down the street in shock.

 

As an oblivious Sue was crossing the road, she was unaware of the threat of the runaway burning Cow Float until she caught sight of it in her peripheral vision and turned around and she froze in both shock and terror, staring at the flaming cow as it slowly inched towards her.

“Sue!” Axl shouted, then ran across the road and grabbed hold of her and swung her into the bridal hold and ran across the road, the float passing without even hitting them.

Axl deposited Sue safely on the grass, but her hands gripped Axl’s Boss Co. shirt, her eyes unblinkingly staring in the distance.

“Sue? Are you okay?” Axl concernedly asked, the fight now forgotten, his hand cupping her cheek.

“Oh my god.” She then murmured, burying her head into Axl’s shirt slightly shaking in adrenaline and shock.

“I think you should be checked out by a professional. Come on.” He gently pulled Sue towards the Heck house, ignoring the chaotic screaming and fleeing Orsonites, passing Nancy Donahue who was barking into her walkie-talkie in a slightly panicky tone “Has anyone seen Ron Cougar Mellencamp?” then abandoning it and bellowing into the crowd “Does anyone have eyes on Ron Cougar Mellencamp?!”

 

Thirty minutes later, Sue was lying on the reclining patient’s bed, dressed in the patient’s hospital gown, watching the attending obstetrician on duty pull over the sonogram machine all the while obliviously asking “How sweet is it that your brother is here for support?” Sue gave a nervous smile, while Axl stifled a cough-smile.

The obstetrician then rubbed the gel on the belly and ran the wand over it and staring at the screen carefully.

After a minute or two, she said cheerfully “Good news. It’s all clear. Your baby is fine.”

Axl stared at the the baby on monitor, entranced by the sight.

Then there was a noise in the hallway, which made the obstetrician frown and say “Excuse me.” She put the wand back into its place and strode out of the room to find out what the noise was about.

Axl smirked and announced “I bet it’ll be a girl.”

Sue scoffed and said “I’ve got a feeling it’ll be a boy.”

The two stared at the one and the other stubbornly.

Axl’s smirk became more of a sneaky one as he announced “How about this? If it’s a girl, I get to choose the name. If it’s a boy you choose the name.”

Sue thought for a minute then nodded, smiling “Sounds good.” Axl gave her a quick kiss, but Sue grabbed hold of Axl’s shirt and drew him back and the two kissed a bit deeper.

Hearing footsteps approaching, the two quickly pulled apart, Axl clearing his throat and trying to look unaffected, while Sue was trying to hide a giggle.

“Sorry about that, there was a scuffle in the hallway.” The obstetrician explained, but Axl raised an uncaring eyebrow which made Sue roll her eyes, but the obstetrician was ignorant to this as she picked up the wand and pressed it onto the belly once again.

“Oh, good timing, you’d be able to find out the sex of the baby.” The obstetrician said.

Sue glanced at Axl, and then said “Uh….I’d rather it be a surprise, thanks.”

The obstetrician shrugged and returned to the sonogram machine and started printing off the photos for Sue.

 

Once Sue was re-dressed back into her street clothes, Sue’s cell rang and she answered it as she exited the room into the hallway, where Axl was waiting impatiently.

“Sue, where’s Axl?” Frankie asked.

Sue sighed and blithely lied “I don’t know, maybe he got caught up with something else.” This made Axl grin and reach out and try and tickle Sue, whose hand slapped his away, making him pull an mock-offended look as he clutched and patted his hand, but his mock-offense faded into snickers.

Frankie, oblivious to the interplay insistently asked “And where are you? Ron Cougar Mellencamp is about to start soon.”

Axl rolled his eyes and moved his finger in a round motion telling her to wrap it up.

“I’ll be there soon Mom, I’ll explain later.” Then Axl pulled the phone and snap closed it mid-goodbye from Frankie.

 

Twenty minutes later, Sue pulled away from Axl and reminded him “Mom is expecting me to be at the Ron Cougar Mellencamp show.” They were in his Nova, which was parked somewhere out of sight of the Orsontennial, and were making out.

“So? The singer’s lame, and it’s more fun in here anyway.” Axl said

“Mom’s still going to notice.” Sue insisted.

“We can come up with some dork story that Mom would believe.” Axl said, shrugging.

“Brad is supposed to meet me there too.” Sue said as if that would settle the matter.

And there it was.

“Great. Mood gone.” Axl grumbled, but Sue ignored him, tidying herself up and getting out of the car and crossing the road before Axl would think of a reason to make Sue stay.

He sighed and put his forehead on the steering wheel. His phone rang, startling him and answered it with a sighed “Heck.” Then brightened “Oh hey Hutch. Listen, got a question for you…”

 

A few minutes later he was weaving through the crowd that was milling in front of the stage until he saw his family and pulled up next to Sue and sneakily whispered “Sorry about being a jerk.” Sue turned and smiled up at him, which let him know that he was forgiven.

Then Ron Cougar Mellencamp began to sing “I was born in a teeny place and I live in a teeny place probably die in a teeny place oh, those teeny-weeny communities all my friends are so teeny-weeny…”

Axl snuck his arm around Sue’s waist, noticing their parents were too absorbed with each other and clapping along to the song to notice. But Brick saw and gave him an pointed ‘how stupid are you’ look which made Axl give him an glare but the siblings were interrupted by an large colourful beach ball landing in front of Brick, making the younger sibling move backwards, accidentally bumping into Sue who clumsily moved back in consequence which made Axl’s arm fall away from her waist, which made Axl’s glare more cranky, but pretended to clap along to the music when Sue put a hand on his shoulder to rebalance herself but then her hand fell away.

Axl pasted a big smile upon his face and continued to clap along as Ron Cougar Mellencamp continued to sing “…my parents live in the same teeny town my job is so teeny-weeny provides little oppor-teeny-ty…”


	12. Chapter Twelve: Halloween – The Baby Shower

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.
> 
> Author’s Note: I’ll be away on vacation very soon for three weeks; I get to visit the most awesome universealternating for the first time. Fanfiction.net certainly is the best site to make friends on lol.  
> Don’t worry, we plan to do some fic writing, perhaps we might do a joint fic…

Dr. White gave a cursory look over the recent patient papers and said in a surprised tone “Oh, you had a scare a while ago and had a check up to make sure everything was okay…” she flipped the page and continued reading, with a furrowed eyebrow. Once she finished, she placed the manila folder with Sue’s patient information aside and said “You need another sonogram to double check there aren’t any side effects, but to be very sure, was there anything important to note?” Sue, who was lying on the adjustable hospital bed with her sterile hospital gown pushed up for access to the belly, replied “No, I felt fine.” Frankie, who was listening, looked confused. As Dr. White moved out of the way to let Melody move the sonogram machine closer and proceed with the procedure of preparing Sue for the sonogram machine, Frankie took the chance to hiss to Sue “What scare was she talking about? When did it happen? How did you get here? Why didn’t you tell me about it?” Sue sighed and reeled off “It was during the Orsontennial, I was nearly hit by that flaming cow but Axl rescued me and decided to bring me to the hospital because he was worried about side-effects. I didn’t want to worry you because you tend to panic, Mom.”

Frankie opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by Dr. White who was peering at the screen “Alright Miss Heck, the baby is developing at 25 weeks, and the lungs are slowly developing quite nicely so far and the nostrils of the baby’s nose will be starting to open this week…” Dr. White continued to rattle off developmental information, while Sue nodded along.

Once she was finished and returned the scanning wand to its holder and turned back to Sue “Have you been taking your prenatal vitamins?” Dr. White inquired giving her an intent stare. Sue nodded as she accepted the ripped off paper towel and wiped her belly and pulled down her gown. Frankie inputted “I reminded her every morning and watched her take them.”

Sue glared at Frankie’s interfering statement, and pushed herself up into a sitting position then leaned against the repositioned sloping rest.

Dr. White took off her gloves and gently lectured “Ok, It’s fine at this point to continue to do some exercise, but here are a few safety rules: Don’t work out when you’re feeling overly tired and stop if you feel any pain, dizziness or shortness of breath. Don’t lie flat on your back and avoid contact sports as well as any exercise where you might lose your balance. Be sure to drink plenty of water and ensure to have time for your warm-up and cool-down periods.”

Sue intently listened, nodding.

“Ok, with that out of the way, have you got plans for today?” Dr. White inquired, with interest.

Sue’s face lit up with excitement “I’m having a baby shower this afternoon.” She then started to ramble excitedly about what she had planned for the afternoon, making Dr. White nod in feigned interest.

 

An hour later, Sue and Frankie were at the _Frugal Hoosier_ browsing for baby shower decorations and supplies. Frankie suggested “How about these cute sailboat themed ones?” she held the said decorations up. Sue said “No, those are in blue. I don’t know if my baby is going to be a boy or girl yet so it has to be something cute _but_ neutral.”

Frankie nodded slowly, wondering when Sue had decided that, but her thought was shaken by a familiar voice asking “Frankie?” she turned around and found Bob standing behind her.

“Oh, hi Bob.” She said in a surprised tone. She hasn’t seen Bob since she got laid off from Ehlert Motors.

Sue turned from the aisle towards Frankie and Bob, holding up her chosen decorations, which was a baby animal theme and said “Mom-” but Bob cut her off, saying in a surprised tone “Oh, I didn’t know Sue was pregnant.”

Frankie said wearingly “It’s a _long_ story.” Then she said spontaneously “But if you come to the baby shower this afternoon I can tell the whole story.”

“A party? Can I bring my extra yams with little marshmallows?” Bob asked excitedly.

Frankie said “Uh, Bob you don’t need to bring food, there will be food there.”

Bob blinked and said “Oh, right.”

“Three pm at the house.” Frankie said as she walked backwards, pointing at Bob, who nodded; then instantly looked worried then started mumbling “What should I get for a baby? A baby that’s not here yet…” he wandered off, mumbling ideas to himself.

 

“Right, I think that’s everything.” Frankie said to Sue as they put the last of the groceries and baby shower supplies in the boot of Frankie’s car and slammed it shut and walked to their sides of the car, Sue to the passenger side whilst Frankie walked to the driver’s side. Once she had gotten inside and clicked her seatbelt into place, her cellphone rang.

“What is it _now_?” she asked tiredly since she had been getting phone calls almost all morning.

“Hello?” she nearly snapped down into her cell.

“Oh, sorry Dr. Goodwin.” She apologised and modulated her tone, then let out hmms, and then an final “OK, I’ll see you there, Dr. Goodwin.” She clicked shut her cell and turned to Sue and said “Honey, that was Dr. Goodwin on the phone, asking me to come in to assist with an emergency root removal, so I can’t go with you to your birth class – once again. But I can drop you off and perhaps Dad or Axl can pick you up after the class.”

Sue gave a feigned sigh of sadness, but she felt happy that Frankie wouldn’t end up interfering in her birth classes this time.

 

After Frankie dropped Sue off, and she greeted Sally who was escorted by an nervous looking beanpole with glasses. Sally had leaned in and whispered “That’s Steve. We met when he was tutoring me in Math which I nearly failed and as a reward for being patient with me, I devirginized him.” Sue looked confused with the rotating boyfriends, and opened her mouth to comment upon it but she was quickly distracted by a loud arguing couple who were arguing about an affair that was discovered by the pregnant wife that suddenly had riveted the whole of the class’s attention. The class gasped when the pregnant wife instantly slapped her husband’s cheek and stormed out of the class, and was quickly followed by the embarrassed husband who still had a red mark on his cheek.

A sound of a throat cleared took the attention off and back onto the flamboyantly dressed Ms Evans, who just had entered the class.

“Sorry about the intrusion,” Ms Evans apologised, then adjusted her overly large glasses and continued “Today, we’ll play a game called ‘You Don’t Say’ and the rules are similar to Taboo, only the cards are pregnancy related.” She waved the coloured cardboard cards then said “Choose your partner and start. Good luck petals.” As each pair paired up, she then weaved through the classroom handing out a few cards to each group.

Sally picked one card and said “OK…this word describes…” she started off trying to describe the word she had on her card without trying to use the banned words that was listed underneath the chosen word that was on her card.

 

An hour later, Sue and Sally was helped up from the ground by Steve, who fell over backwards when he helped the two girls up from the ground, making Sally roll her eyes and Sue stifle her entertained giggles.

“I’ll be around sometime after three; to make sure the partay has started.” Sally said with a smile and a wiggle. Sue nodded and gave Sally a hug and said tentatively “You know, Steve is invited too…” Sally rolled her eyes and said “Nah, Steve-o has something to do; he’ll just drop me off and go to his thing.” Sally said with a pointed smile and a nudge towards Steve, who nodded rapidly.

“Oh, okay then. See you there.” Sue said with a smile, then watched Sally leave, with Steve as her faithful shadow. She pulled out her cell phone and pressed the speed dial for Axl.

“You got the Axman.” Axl said, on autopilot.

“Axl…” she said teasingly down the cell phone with a smile upon her face.

 

Sometime after three, the doorbell rang, and Sue went to answer it.

“Hi Sue!” Weird Ashley said, wearing her usual wizards’ robe, this time a new one Sue never had seen before.

Sue said with a kind smile “Hi Ashley, that’s a nice robe you’re wearing today.”

“Thanks.” Weird Ashley said, nodding.

She escorted Weird Ashley to the lounge room, which was already decorated with the baby animal theme.

“So…where’s Axl?” she enquired, looking around expectantly.

“ _Ahh_ …” Sue prevaricated, instantly seeing Axl who was behind Weird Ashley and was gesturing in a panic to Sue, but he caught sight of the side door then quietly snuck to the side door and fled and ran around the corner.

Sue let out a relieved breath as she finished “…He’s not here at the moment.”

Weird Ashley looked around curiously “Why did you have the party in here, why not outside?”

Sue explained “It is windy outdoors; I was worried that the wind might tear off some of the decorations.”

“Maybe I should do a weather spell to fix it.” Weird Ashley offered, then closed her eyes and clutched her necklace in preparation.

Sue, looking very helpless just opened and shut her mouth like a fish.

 

Then the doorbell rang.

 

“Uh, I’ll be back.” She said in relief and quickly made a beeline for the front door. She swung it open to Brad and Carly who said in sync “Hello Mama to be!” and threw onesie confetti onto Sue.

Sue laughed and said “Thanks guys.” And gave them a hug each. She then she noticed Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tag coming up the path, arguing as usual.

“Just go into the lounge, Ashley’s already here.” She told her two best-friends.

As her grandparents reached her, Grandma Pat stopped arguing with Grandpa Tag to turn to Sue and gave her a warm hug and said “Chop Suey, when Frankie told me the news, I was very surprised.” Grandpa Tag interfered “She was speechless.”

“Was not, I was just shocked!” Grandma Pat snapped, then modulated her tone and said “So, how are you feeling?”

Sue gave her grandparents a smile “Um… alright at the moment.” Then quickly directed her grandparents to the lounge, just as the Donahues were walking up. Nancy gave Sue a hug and said “Shelly couldn’t come, she has been invited for a friend’s birthday party this afternoon but thank you for inviting us to the baby shower.”

Dottie looked up to the sky and asked “Does this mean the stork will drop a shower of babies on us?”

Nancy, Ron and Sue stifled a laugh, but Sean crouched down and patiently explained “No, a baby shower is simply like a birthday party but for the Mom to be, we are celebrating the baby that will come soon.”

“Oh.” Dottie said nodding, and then asked curiously “When will the baby get here?”

Sue said “It will be here soon. When it gets here, you can visit with your Mom to see the baby.”

Dottie nodded, then once after Sue had directed the Donahues to the lounge, more guests had turned up, one after the other.

 

When Sue had returned, following Darrin and Angel indoors she then headed towards the bathroom, she was grabbed and pulled into her own room by Axl.

“It has the worst week! Being a freshman on the team made me do stuff like carrying the team members’ bags, being tied to the goal post and whenever I get a phone call from any of the team members I have to hop like a loser and now I get home and the first thing I see is Weird Ashley!” he ranted, but his cell phone rang and once he saw who it was, started hopping straightaway.

“Axl, that’s bullying. Have you said anything to the Coach?” Sue asked concernedly.

“No, that would be tattling.” Axl said in a horrified tone while still hopping.

“Sue?” they heard Frankie call from outside the room.

Sue sighed then firmly said “We’ll talk about this later, Axl.”

She didn’t notice Axl had rolled his eyes behind her departing back.

 

When Sue returned to the lounge room full of guests, she noticed Uncle Rusty was talking and gesturing to an unimpressed looking Angel, while Darrin was glaring at Uncle Rusty, Mike and Big Mike was talking to Ron Donahue about the Colts’ season, Bob was talking to Frankie, the Wrestlerette girls were talking with Brad, Carly and Sally and Dottie was trying to talk to a reading Brick and failing when Brick constantly put up his finger.

She let out a sigh.

 

Then she heard the doorbell once again.

 

Confused, she made her way to it, and swung open the door.

“Hello, you must be Sue. I’m Dr. Goodwin, your Mom’s boss.” He said with a smile that looked creepy than friendly.

“Mom?” Sue called almost hysterically, and then confusedly smiled back at Dr. Goodwin.

Frankie arrived to find a confused Sue and Dr. Goodwin at the front door.

“Oh, what are you doing here, Dr. Goodwin?” Frankie asked confused.

“You invited me.” Dr. Goodwin said, his smile turned confused.

Frankie tilted her head, remembering that she sarcastically ‘invited’ him this morning after complaining about the preparation she had to do for it.

“Oh, right…well, the more the merrier.” Frankie said, then directed him into the lounge room, then said in a sotto voice to Sue “Sorry honey. Apparently he doesn’t ‘get’ sarcasm.”

Sue shook her head, with a faint smile upon her face and followed Frankie back into the lounge room and clapped her hands.

 

“I have organised some fun games. But first, over at the table there…” she gestured over to the decorated folding card table that was jammed against the wall “There is a jar full of jelly bean babies. If you want to guess the amount of ‘babies’ in the jar, there will be a prize to be won. This will be revealed at the end of the party. Now, the first game is Diaper Derby…” she quickly counted the heads of each guest and said “Split into two teams and Mom and Dad will hand out toilet paper. The aim of this game is to wrap up each team member in a mock diaper. The team with the most creative ‘diapered’ baby wins.”

After the teams were sorted and the toilet paper rolls were given to the team members, Sue picked up the kitchen timer and said “Ready…Steady…Go!”

She watched, giggling as Rusty and Darrin each kept dropping their toilet rolls, Bob accidentally wrapping himself up as a zombie, Sean and Ron effectively making theirs a tidy looking diaper, Axl’s looking like a lopsided and lazy looking one, Mike and Frankie’s diapers looking even messier and slightly ripped looking.

Once the timer buzzed, Sue looked out at the guests and giggled. She went to each team, looking at each member’s ‘diapers’.

 

She announced cheerily “It was very _very_ hard to choose one exact winner, so I’ve decided on categories. The neatest diaper goes to Ron Donahue…” Sue tossed a bag of M  & Ms that had a tea towel as a ‘diaper’ around it to Ron who gave a celebratory fist pump. “…the most creative one goes to Dr. Goodwin.” Dr. Goodwin, who wore a diaper with dentist themed stickers that he happened to have on him today, bowed then caught his prize, which was a small baby bottle filled with jelly babies. Sue continued “…the most funniest one goes to Sally.” Sally gave a whoop and a fist pump, since her ‘diaper’ was made to look like an random animal that Sue couldn’t identify then she awkwardly caught her prize, which was a cellophane wrapped bunch of chocolate cookies. Sue then finished with “…and the most laziest one goes to…Mom and Dad since they tied.” Mike and Frankie grimaced, and then caught the two small baby bottles filled with jelly babies. Their ‘diaper’ looked all torn-like and not very diaper looking.

“The next game is…” she was interrupted by the doorbell. Sue said “Um... why don’t you relax for a bit while I answer that.” She made her way to answer the door.

 

“Reverend Tim-Tom!” Sue said in surprise. The reverend smiled and said “Hi Sue Heck. I can’t stay long – I am needed up in Arizona, but I just wanted to give you your present and I hope it goes well for the baby.” He handed Sue a soft feeling present.

“Oh, thanks, Reverend Tim-Tom. I hope things go well in Arizona.” Sue said, clutching the present to her chest. The reverend gave her a nod and a smile and he was off.

She placed the present on top of the pile of presents that was on the round kitchen table and returned to the lounge room, seeing that everyone had torn off their ‘diapers’ and were sitting down and chatting away.

“Before I was interrupted, the next game is ‘Place The Pacifier In The Baby’s Mouth’. It’s like ‘Pin Tail On The Donkey’ but instead it’s a baby’s mouth and a pacifier instead.” She pointed to the wall next to the card table, where a giant looking picture of a baby was stuck onto the wall.

“Well the Mama to be should go first.” Grandma Pat announced, before anybody would volunteer.

Sue was blindfolded and spun around, with the cardboard ‘pacifier’ in hand. Once she gained her equilibrium, she carefully walked ahead pacifier in hand. Once she reached the wall, she felt for the papery feeling poster, then randomly pinned the paper pacifier on the poster, then backed off, and then when she heard loud laughter from the women and groans from the males, she pulled off the blindfold then giggled. It was placed on the ‘private’ area between the legs.

 

“Right, let the Axman show you how’s it done!” Axl announced then snatched up an ‘pacifier’ and took the blindfold from Sue and tied the blindfold around his head and pulled it down. Sean and Darrin immediately stood up and spun him around three times then roughly shoved him towards the poster.

Axl did the same as Sue, feeling his way for the poster and randomly pressed the ‘pacifier’ onto the poster.

Everyone laughed as it was discovered that Axl’s ‘pacifier’ landed between the eyes of the giant baby.

 

Guest after guest took a lot of tries at it, one landed on a foot, another on the hand, another on the border of the poster, one landed on the nose, anther on a cheek, another landed on the corner of the mouth. When it was Brick’s turn, his landed on the chin.

Eventually, Bob who was the last person; pinned his ‘pacifier’ on the giant baby’s knee.

 

Sue announced “Well, the winner of this game is Nancy Donahue – her ‘pacifier’ was the one on the corner of the mouth which was close to the mouth since nobody landed any of their pins right on the mouth.” She tossed Nancy a cellophane wrapped gift of the chocolate chip cookies.

Frankie injected before Sue could and announced “Cake time!” everybody began to snicker, giggled or laugh out right as there was an diaper-shaped cake that Uncle Rusty had bought sitting right on the food table. An blushing Sue was forced to cut the cake and the whole scene was caught on scene by Frankie’s camera for posterity.

Once the cake was sliced into pieces and distributed and eaten, that was the cue for everyone else to return for more cake, help themselves to other snack foods or refreshments.

 

“Presents! Presents! Presents!” Sean and Darrin began to chant, making Axl join in.

Persuaded by the boys, Sue gestured to Axl; who was the nearest to the present table to give her the nearest gift. Axl snatched up the soft-feeling present Reverend Tim-Tom gave to Sue earlier.

“This was from Reverend Tim-Tom.” Sue announced, delicately pulling at the tape of the present, but since it didn’t budge, she kept pulling at it.

Sally shouted from her seat “Rip that wrapping, Sue!” then the other guests began to encourage her, shouting variations of Sally’s shout.

Sue shrugged and vigorously ripped into the wrapping until it revealed the present underneath, which was a onesie with a slogan proclaiming “Born to Praise!” with a guitar underneath with ‘Psalm 150’ next to the guitar. Sue let out a laugh; it was very Reverend Tim-Tom.

Sue then was handed the next gift, which revealed was two choices of fashionable baby clothing of each gender from Brad who simply said “One can be used in the future…who knows?” which Frankie tried not to grimace and Mike mutter unintelligibly under his breath, which Sue didn’t notice because she was blushing and giving Axl an furtive glance but the other teen was too busy arguing with Darrin to overhear Brad’s comment. The next gift was revealed to be a zoo animal baby mobile that was from Becky. Half an hour later, Frankie and Pat was collecting the room filled random gift wrapping while Sue gave an overwhelmed look at the gifts that now towered the table and nearby it. There was a stroller (Carly), a Colts onesie (Mike), a baby wizard robe (Weird Ashley), a sexy looking pink maternity nightie and a pregnancy sex book with pictures (Sally, inciting blushes from Sue, embarrassed looks from Frankie and struck silent Mike and Axl sending an interested look towards Sue’s way) and second-hand onesies (from Frankie, apparently she had kept the kids’ baby clothes and forgotten about them until she stumbled upon them in the garage one day sometime after Sue had revealed her pregnancy), packages of diapers (two from Uncle Rusty, two from Darrin), an envelope that had a photo of an changing table that was going to be delivered the next day (from the Donahues), an dentist themed onesie (Dr. Goodwin), a Ehlert Motors onesie (from Bob), baby books (from Brick), a baby bible (from Ruth), a baby car seat (Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tag) Mike and Big Mike had discovered Sue’s old high chair and baby crib and had put a lick of fresh paint and had new cushioning/mattress put in and had presented them to Sue in a flourish, making Sue burst into tears of gratefulness.

 

Frankie announced “We all have one more active game, and then Sue will announce the winner of the jellybean jar guess.”

Sue then announced, the next game is ‘Drink Up Baby’, she waved at the card table piled up with baby bottles with apple juice and after a count of three, you guys must suck the bottles dry as fast as possible and the first person who down the contents of the bottle wins.” She saw Axl, Sean and Darrin exchange smirks instantly recognized that they knew they got it in the can.

After distributing the baby bottles to the overly eager Axl, Sean and Darrin, who just snatched the bottles, to the nervous Dr. Goodwin and Bob, all the while chattering nervously to other people nearby, to an hesitant Ruth, who just stared at the bottle.

 

Sue cleared her throat, and once she had everyone’s attention she had noticed that Rusty, Axl, Sean and Darrin were riveted their bottles at the ready.

“One…two… _three_!” Sue announced loudly. With the last word, she signaled everybody to begin drinking. Rusty, Axl, Sean and Darrin had their bottles in the months before anybody else would react, some jumped and straightaway started to drink, (Brad, Carly and Weird Ashley) others was trying to drink as fast as they could albeit clumsily (Dr. Goodwin, Dottie and Bob), or was drinking almost uninterestedly (Mike, Frankie, Big Mike) or being aggressively competitive (Sally and Becky). Then Axl, Sean and Darrin simultaneously burped and put up their empty baby bottles up in the air, then noticed that they were first, making them shout in chorus “Yes!!!”

 

“Axl, Sean and Darrin you guys win.” Sue announced, shaking her head ruefully, making the three boys do an three-way high-five. Sue then tossed them one bag each of the tea toweled ‘diapered’ M&M bag.

Everybody sat back down and Frankie approached Sue with the clipboard of the jellybean jar guess game and then whispered the winner’s name in her ear. Sue looked at Frankie surprised, and then looked down to the clipboard to check if it was true.

As Frankie returned to the seat next to Mike and the other side claimed by Nancy Donahue, Sue cleared her throat “Apparently the winner of the jelly bean guess is Bob.” She held out the jar of the jellybeans as Bob came up to collect it, beaming “Oh my god, I never had won before. When I was little, I always lost or came last; this one time-” but was cut off by Sally saying in an annoyed tone “Forget it, _Bobby;_ nobody wants to hear your lame and boring stories, dude!”

 

Bob looked offended, but Frankie had gently intervened, then Bob chose his prize. Afterwards, the Donahues stood up and give their thanks and making their excuse to leave stating that they needed to pick Shelly up from her friend’s house and began their farewells, with Sean and Nancy giving Sue a hug and Dottie carrying her baby shower gift bag and sucking on a lollypop. The Donahues’ departure quickly spurred the other guests to leave, one by one.

 

Then it was just the Hecks and the Spence grandparents left.

“Make sure you get your Mom or Dad to ring us when the baby has arrived, Chop Suey.” Grandma Pat firmly said, giving her a hug. Sue nodded while Grandpa Tag said “Come on, Woman; we have to get onto the road before it gets dark.”

Grandma Pat instantly retorted “You better take I-70, not that darned shortcut again.”

Grandpa Tag groaned “I-70 takes too damn long.”

 

As Sue returned to the room, she found Frankie and Mike starting to clean up while Axl was reclining on the couch in his usual boxers, watching football while Brick sat at the other end, a novel in his hands like usual. She began to rip down the decorations from one wall and started to stuff it into the plastic garbage bag, then continued to pull more decorations off the wall until the wall was bare and turned her focus onto the giant baby poster with the dummy ‘pins’ still blu-tacked onto it. She gently removed them one by one and tossing them into the nearby plastic box and removed the poster off the wall and leaned it to the wall next to the card table.

Frankie and Mike had finished cleaning their area and were looking at Sue with simultaneous grins on their faces, which creeped her out slightly.

“We have a surprise for you.” Frankie began and Mike then covered Sue’s eyes and led her into a direction until the hands were uncovered.

 

She let out a gasp of surprise. They were in Sue’s room, but there was a difference: the room was rearranged due to the new double bed that was smack dab in the middle of the room. She noticed the changes: the armchair was taken out, the study table was moved slightly closer to the window to make room for the baby’s crib and the soon to be delivered baby changing table and her chest of drawers was moved over near to the wall near the door and her armoire was moved closer to the window. All she could think was _Axl would appreciate this bed more since his complaints about fitting into a single bed for make outs or trying to persuade me to sleep the night in his bed whenever he was home would be invalid._

 

Sure enough, later that night when Sue slipped between the brand new sheets, Axl was raving about the new bed.

Both tired of his excited raving about the bed and of the events of the day, she cut him off with a kiss.

“What was that for?” Axl asked confused.

Sue shrugged, fighting a smirk from appearing on her face.

“Whatevs.” He turned and pulled something that was somewhat hidden behind the second pillow and tossed it gently to Sue.

 

“Didn’t want to give this in front of everyone else today cos I didn’t want Mom to be all mushy like and try and hug me.” He rolled his eyes while curling his lip in disgust.

Sue, without encouragement just ripped into the present to reveal a soft football, with “My 1st Football” stamped in red writing upon it.

“Aww…” she said clutching it to her chest.

 

Then she blinked. “Wait a minute. You’re so sure that Heck Junior will be a girl.”

Axl shrugged and casually said “Girls can play football. After all, you caught the ball that one time.”

Sue blushed, remembering. “Well, let’s hope he or she doesn’t have my luck in trying out for anything.” Sue said ruefully, making Axl chuckle.

 

He then bent down and pulled the pregnancy sex book out from the pile of books that was next to the bed and waved it at Sue “Why don’t we try some of the positions out of this awesome book _if_ you can be quiet, that is…”

She narrowed her eyes, accepting his obvious challenge and pulled the book to her and flipped open the book and started to move her finger down the chapters to decide which position to do.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: The Mechanical Baby Test

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Title: Baby, It’s You  
> Author: PurpleOrchid85  
> Rating: PG-13 to T  
> Fandom: The Middle  
> Pairing: Axl/Sue (Heckcest, Axsue, Lumberjack Lawyers, whichever shipping name you prefer)
> 
> Spoilers: All of Season 4, Heckcest ‘twisted’ Season 5
> 
> Summary: Sue and Axl drunkenly sleep with each other, resulting in a surprise pregnancy.
> 
> Warnings: Sibling incest, incest pregnancy, kissing, occasional swearing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer:  
> Axl Heck & Sue Heck and every character that is mentioned in this Fanfiction in relation of The Middle are copyrighted by ABC and its creators/producers DeAnn Heline and Eileen Heisler.
> 
> AN: First off, for the faithful followers on this fanfic, I apologise for the looong wait for the new chapter. Long story short, went on vacation to Hawaii to meet visit my fellow Heckcest writer, the awesome universalternating, then I got a job, then lost it (contract terminated) got a new flexible job back in April but in between crazy moments of life, I managed to write on and off this chapter. 
> 
> AN2: The nail discussion is from the show, same as Axl failing three of his classes, and tricking Brick to help him but some things are new. Plus the dog appearing here is Colin Firth in canon, but without the jump meter leading to Frankie's annoyance over being teased and being driven out of the house and discovering Colin Firth in the first place... So, in this 'universe' Sue is the one who discovers the dog first and gives it a different name...
> 
> AN3: Songs – The song Brad sings is "When I Grow Up" from Matilda the musical, the song Axl sings to 'robo-baby Ricky' is Kansas's "Carry On Wayward Son" and to Sue afterwards is Parrell William's "Happy"

Halloween itself had came and gone. Brick went to the school dance with Harper, a girl he liked; but due to his nerves of actually talking to the girl face to face, he ended up fainting and got a slight concussion. Axl was encouraged by Hutch to throw a Halloween party (Hutch had reasoned "It's gonna be like your one last hurrah before the little squirt arrives.") it ended up almost a success, with Hutch hitting on a blonde girl dressed in a pirate costume. (Hutch had mentioned to Axl later that the pirate girl reminded him off a gorgeous blonde Amanda Bynes) However, both boys ended up sleeping the night tied to the goal post together after finally taking a metaphorical ‘stand’ against the hazing.  
Frankie and Mike were invited to spend the weekend with the Donahues at a couples retreat near Indy, leaving Sue to relax at home in front of the TV, marathoning all the _Twilight_ movies (and drooling over Taylor Launtner). New Moon was her favourite, especially the scene where Bella was running, then Jacob jumping into the sky and phasing into a werewolf on the fly and landing in front and growling at Paul’s werewolf form. She could not help but rewind and replay that scene quite a few times.

   


At the moment, Sue was at her birthing class, chatting to Sally. Their teacher was late, a first for everyone.  
"... I keep encouraging Axl to speak to Coach Tracy about the prolonged hazing that has been going on for Axl and Hutch but-'' Sue was cut off by a puffing Ms Evans, who entered the room, struggling to hold onto a large and heavy box. Noticing this, two of the few husbands accompanying their wives to this class immediately got up and rushed forwards to help relieve the weight.

“Thank you petals.” She grandly said to the two men as they placed the box onto the floor. After adjusting her clunky glasses, Ms Evans said “We will start class in a few minutes after I gather some rest time…” Then toddled off to the front to sneak a sip of her brandy-laced coffee out of her thermos. The class erupted into casual chatting. Sue then glanced over to the still oblivious ‘boyfriend-of-the-week’ who Sally introduced as Brett, her Romantic Literature TA. Brett had his head stuck into a classic novel since he had arrived.

“O.K. Sally, what is going on with the ever changing boyfriends? And be truthful this time.” Sue gave her a pointed look.  
Sally bit her lower lip, and quickly glanced to make sure Brett was not listening.

“O.K. I’ll explain but not here, let’s meet up at the Denny’s up the street and I’ll explain.” Sally said nervously.

A few minutes, Ms Evans had the class at attention once again.  
“So petals, this box contains an test for you all.”  
Everyone looked at the box with various expressions ranged from horror, anxiety to straight out derision.

She opened the box and pulled out a mechanical baby, and it instantly started to cry.

Sally was the first to react, quipped loudly “Wow, we’re totally are in a scene out of License To Wed!” Which made the females who saw the movie snicker, while Ms Evans glared at her and said “Right, Ms Brown, just for that unwelcome comment, you are being assigned fraternal twins.” She handed off the crying baby over to an random class attendant then bent back down to retrieve the mechanical fraternal twins and abruptly dumped them into Sally’s arms. The mechanical twins immediately started crying, making Sally panic.

Ms Evans began to hand out the babies to each of the pairs, or to the single women in the classes. Sue, once she received the baby, immediately checked what gender and ascertained it was a boy and instantly tried to think of a name for the baby and came up with Patrick Michael Heck (Patrick after Grandma Pat, Michael after her Dad)

“Hello Ricky.” Sally bent over to wave her fingers at the silent baby Patrick.

“Ricky?” Sue asked confused.

“Patrick is a bit of a mouthful.” Sally said shrugging airily, juggling and ignoring the crying screams from the mechanical twins.

Ms Evans cleared her throat and grandly gestured “Now since you’ve received your mechanical babies, you have to look after them for two weeks and then once the assignment is over you will be graded or be advised whether you will be good parents or not.”

Sue could hear nervous titters from the males in the class.

  
  
After Sally explained to Brett that she now has a lift home, and Brett shrugging and walking off to his car, both girls waddled up to the Denny’s, with their mechanical babies in tow. Once settling the babies down in the cushiony seats next to them in a booth, and once after ordering their chosen beverages, Sue pinned Sally with a pointed look and flatly said “Explain.”

“Alright, let me tell you the sad story of one Sally Brown. See, I grew up a small town like this…” she let out a sad sigh “I was a loner growing up. Then one day a jock asked me out. I was excited and pleased to have someone popular pay attention to me. I became popular and liked among the students at my high school and the head cheerleader and most popular girl in the school decided to be my best-friend. Then one day in my senior year, I decided to pay a surprise visit to my sick boyfriend at his house with ‘get better’ cookies. But to my complete surprise instead of my boyfriend being sick in bed, I find him above my so-called best-friend and moaning her name! I swore up and down never to be in a serious relationship ever…”

Sue had a confused look upon her face “But... how…”

Sally nodded “Just keep on listening…” she blew out a tension-filled sigh then continued “When I got to college, I was one of those ‘wham-bam-thank-you-sir’ girls but then one day I saw my ex-boyfriend across the street one day, and then I guess I kinda had a brain snap and I just went on a drunk bender and fucking…and yes I hooked up with those guys and was unsure which one was the father.”

Sue nodded sympathetically and said “Your ex-boyfriend was a jerk for cheating on you like that.”

Sally quietly asked Sue “Do you hate me… For you know being a slut?” And Sue said “Sally, no you are not a sl... well that word you said. I think you were just looking for affection in the wrong places.”

Sally gave Sue a wan smile, and muttered “You’re so sweet to say that.” then the two girls spent a minute of silence but then it’s broken by the three mechanical babies crying at the exact same time.  
“Oh great, Kali and Lucifer are starting again!” Sally huffed, reaching out for one of the twins, while Sue reached for Ricky.

As Sue idled at a stop sign, she looked in the review mirror to check on the mechanical babies, two still crying, while one was calm. Ricky was strapped in the baby seat (thanks to Mike’s paranoid mind) while Sally’s self-dubbed ‘devil babies’ were strapped into the car in a tangle of seat belts by Sally. She glanced back to the still-ranting Sally “…can’t believe you got the calmest robo-baby in the class, while I get these two!” She thumbed back towards the still crying Kali and Lucifer, while Ricky was blissfully silent.

  
After a few minutes of driving, Sue came up onto an intersection and turned right, and all of a sudden, a white dog with brown spots quickly ran across the road, and Sue had to brake before she would hit the dog. She opened the door and called out “Hey, be careful! You're gonna get hurt.” Then of all a sudden, the dog jumped into the car and settled down on the ground next to the steering wheel and growled at Sally, who just raised an eyebrow in reaction.

“Oh isn’t he cute? I’m gonna call him Justin.” Sue said instantly petting him.  
“Justin? After the lame-ass singer you like or Justin Russo from Wizards Of Waverley Place?” Sally asks sardonically. Sue glared, she had forgotten that in a moment of weakness she had admitted to Sally her love for Justin Bieber and her crush upon David Henrie’s character on Wizards Of Waverly Place.

After Sue dropped Sally at her Aunt’s place, she excitedly entered the Heck home with the mechanical baby in tow and Justin the dog following her eagerly. “Dad, you are not gonna believe what just happened.” Sue said in a squeal-worthy tone.  
Mike retorted “Well, I'm gonna guess it has something to do with that robot baby and that dog.”

Sue launched into the tale of her birthing class and then segued into how she rescued the dog.

“…and I named him Justin.” Sue said, trying to squat to pet the dog.

Mike was incredulous “You named him? Sue, you don't think we're keeping this dog, do you?”

Sue turned back to Mike and asked “Please?”

Frankie entered and overheard and asked “Please what? Oh, what a cute dog!” she bent down to give him a pat, but he growled, making Frankie jump back in shock.

Sue gave her parents a pleading look “Please?”

Mike sighed, giving in “He can stay…until his owner has been found.”

 

At dinner, Sue stirred her disgusting looking soup, with occasional glances at the old baby bassinet next to her that Frankie found in the garage, and with some lazy fixing by Frankie, was deemed safe and pretty enough to use. Apparently it was ‘Expiration Soup Night’ and everyone other than Frankie wasn’t impressed, not even Justin the dog. Sue was thinking that she should just dump it without Frankie looking and just make a sandwich instead.

She jumped as a pile of clean clothes landed in front of her in the middle of the table and Axl’s voice sounded from behind her “Chop-chop, people. Fold while you eat.”  
Sue internally shrugged, anything’s better than eating this slop. So she moved her bowl aside and reached out and grabbed an pair of socks and began rolling them up and tossed it back into the pile, then picked another pair.  
Mike said tiredly “Axl, we're in the middle of dinner.”  
Axl shot back “Yeah, exactly; and I got to get back up to school before the cafeteria closes, 'cause there's no way I'm eating this slop you're eating.”  
Frankie said in an almost affronted tone “Look, if you don't like expiration-date-soup night, fine, but I took the time to dump all those cans into the pot, so the least you could do is show a little appreciation.”

Everyone else gave her an incredulous expression.

Mike spoke “Think maybe we could cut a corner somewhere else, besides food?”

Frankie almost snapped “Yeah, Mike, we don't have any corners left. We're living in a circle here.”  
Axl, annoyed said “Hearing a lot of talking, not seeing a lot of folding.”

Giving up, Frankie reached for a random piece of clothing and began to fold, with Brick following suit.

Of all a sudden, Axl noticed Frankie’s bright blue nails “Oh, my God! What did you do to your hands? Ha! Blue nail polish! Dad, did you see this? Did you see what your wife did to her nails? Look, check it out!”

Sue leaned over to look and spoke, laughing “That's hi-larious!”  
Brick followed suit with his astounded “Wow, Mom. Just wow.”  
While Mike said curiously “What do you got going on there, Frankie?”  
Frankie said embarrassed “It's nothing! Geez, I don't know. It's just a little fun thing. I heard bright colors were in this season.”  
Axl spoke up “Yeah, but why nails? I mean, if you're gonna do something, do something about those sandpaper elbows.”  
Brick agreed with a short laugh “Yeah, I brushed up against them yesterday, and they almost cut me.”  
Sue said defensively “No, you guys, this is good. This is what you are supposed to do when you're older. You're supposed to do something that draws attention away from your face.” Then she gave Frankie a cheerful thumbs up.  
Axl said thoughtfully “They do match the color of the veins in her neck.” Then Brick innocently asked “Is that what you were going for, Mom?”  
Frankie sarcastically said “Yeah, Brick, that's what I wanted - to find a nail color that matches the bulging veins in my neck.” Then there was an awkward silence, then everyone either returned to folding clothes or stirring at the disgusting soup.

 

It was later in the night, and Sue had settled Ricky in the crib that already was set up in her room, even if it was a tight fit, it worked.  
Sue was supposed to do her homework that was spread open on her bed, but she was quickly drawn into a heavy makeout session with Axl.

“Whoa, whoa wait. Was the laundry an excuse to see me?” Sue said simultaneously as she pulled back from the kiss.  
Axl shrugged, which was somewhat a confirmation to Sue.  
“What? Why?” she asked confusedly.  
“College’s a bit boring at the moment, since some of the classes are boring. Well, not Music Appreciation since I’m rocking that one.” Axl admitted, and then softly mumbled “andthatImissyou.”

Sue had to lean close to hear it, but due to the jumbled words, she didn’t catch what he said, but Axl quickly distracted her by just pulling her in for another deep kiss.

But a piercing cry interrupted the amorous kissing. Sue pulled back and quickly got up to attend to Ricky.

“Great. Cockblocked by the robo-baby.” Axl grumbled, falling back to lay on the bed.

“Well, robo - Ricky is my test. I want to do well, because I want to be a great mother for - for Heck Junior. I mean you failed Heath because one: you accidentally tore off your robot baby’s head and two: you kept calling your robot Brick Junior and didn’t check your baby’s gender and thought it was a boy when in fact it was a girl.” Sue ranted, all the while bouncing and pacing. Axl got up and halted Sue in the tracks and gave her an awkward hug due to Ricky being in her arms.

“Sue. You’re doing way much better than I did. I mean, you’ve got more patience with the crying. Besides I think this one cried less than the one I had.” He leaned over to look at Ricky in curiosity.  
Sue gave a small smile.  
“Hey. I think he’s asleep. See, you did it.” Axl said, still looking at Ricky.

 

Two days later, Axl was halted by three of his professors, Dr. Patel, Professor Morson and Senora Pitts after each of his classes and was told that he was failing Fundamentals of Math, Intro to Psych and Spanish respectively. After internally panicking, he decided to try and trick Brick into coming down to East Indy and try and get him to tutor him. With a promise of visiting the library and check out the microfiche, Axl guided his little brother into his room he shared with Kenny.

When Brick realized Axl tricked him into coming onto campus, he gave his big brother a stare.  
Axl sighed and said “OK, Here's the thing, Brick. I screwed up. I screwed up big time. And it's really, really bad. I mean, I thought I was doing okay, but three of my professors told me I had to drop their classes. And if I drop three classes, I'll only have one left and that's Music Appreciation which everyone calls ‘Clap for credits’ and I'm barely passing that…”

With some panicking and pleading and a promise from Axl along with a 44-ounce Slushie and some goldfish crackers, Brick knew he was in for a long night of trying to teach Axl how to properly study, but it was worth it to see Axl’s pleased grin on his face.

 

_Meanwhile, back in Orson…_

  
“Sue!” Brad waved in an energized manner from his seat, signaling Sue and Carly to where he was sitting. Sue and Carly waved back, and made their way up the stands to where he was seated. Sue muttered excuses as she squeezed sideways through the aisle to get to her seat that was next to Brad, with Carly following behind her.

Brad was wearing blue face-paint and carrying a blue #1 foam finger. Carly asked confusedly “Brad? Why…what?”  
Brad said primly “Well, I got to show my school spirit, after all if the Hens win, the girls will go onto the volleyball play-offs, after all I have been tracking the ranking of each Hens teams. Well…our varsity football team isn’t doing that well since Axl and Sean left the team…” he was interrupted by the announcer who began to introduce the teams. The three of them cheered when the Hens’ team was introduced. She glanced down at the baby carrier that was at her feet, checking on Ricky who was silent, which was his ‘sleeping’ mode. She heard a disdainful snort from the seat next to Brad’s and she turned to glare at the person sitting there. The person flinched at the poisonous glare, then looked in the other direction, making Sue smirk to herself in success.

Carly asked “So how do you think how well the team would do today?” Brad shrugged, his focus upon a male Warrior’s fan who was similarly dressed as him, only in the Warrior’s colors. Sue said to Carly “If the team is flagging, I made up a sideline cheer for the team: We’re gonna bump, set and spike it, ‘cause that’s the way we like it!” Brad and Carly agreed that it was catchy, and then they began to watch the game, with the Hens scoring the first point, making everyone cheer loudly.

As time went by, aisle by aisle everyone began the wave to stave off the tension of the game’s tie. Sue and Carly chatted in general, and then at match point, the announcer said “The score now is Hens 24, Warriors 23.”

In half-time, Carly asked “How’s the baby? How many weeks are you now?”  
Sue said “The baby’s doing great. I’m now twenty-seven weeks pregnant. I feel like I’m carrying around a basketball…” she giggled then continued “I find that I’m clumsier than usual, I also have had a few headaches and I find I have some trouble sleeping at night, but the upside is that I’m eating more and the baby is starting to move since I feel it kick a little now.”

Carly nodded towards the baby car carrier “So, what’s the deal with the robot baby? I thought they quit giving these out in Health after Axl broke the one he was supposed to look after.”

Sue said “Oh, this one was given by my birthing class teacher. Poor Sally got twins that kept crying, while I was given this one. I named this one Patrick Michael Heck – Patrick after my grandma, Michael after Dad. Sally said Ricky is a better nickname since ‘Patrick’ was a mouthful… I think she was just lazy though.”

Brad asked “Sue, can I hold Ricky? It will be good practice when I actually hold your baby. I mean – I don’t have prior experience with kids.”  
Sue, eyebrows raised said “Okay. Go ahead.”

After Brad put down his foam finger, and some help from Sue, he unbuckled Ricky from the carrier and bought the baby to his arms. Awkwardly Brad tried to figure out how to hold the baby, until Sue helped.

“Aw, look at him. He’s one… cute baby.” Brad trailed off, only to have Ricky wake up and drool on his Hens’ fan shirt. Sue said “Oh, he does that sometimes. I guess that would happen with a real baby, good thing I have a burp cloth…” Sue reached into her bag and handed it over “In reality, I would have to pack a diaper bag, with bottles, burp clothes, bibs…” Sue began to list the items.  
Brad blinked “Geez, I didn’t know how much care a new baby would take, after all I’m an only child in the family.”

Brad cooed down at the now clean Ricky. He began to sing “When I grow up, I will be tall enough to reach the branches, that I need to reach to climb the trees, you get to climb when you’re grown up…” he continued to sing the song “When You Grow Up” from the Matilda musical.

Sue suddenly said to the other two “You know; I’ve got a feeling that I might’ve tried out for volleyball if I hadn’t little Heck Junior here.” Sue spoke, gently patting her tummy.

“It’s still Heck Junior? What names are you thinking of?” Brad asked slightly bouncing Ricky, as if he has forgotten he was in his arms.

“Well… I have written down a list, but at the top of my head…um…Finn, Justin, Jacob, Noah… argh, can’t remember what else. Axl has also come up with a list of girls name I’ve vetoed, the latest is Rose but I vetoed it because it was too cutesy.” Sue said giving them a knowing nod.

“Axl and Rose? Wha… Oh Axl Rose.” Brad realised the connection of the two names and of the lead singer of Guns N’ Roses.

They hear cheers and boos, they look up and realise the game has been over and been over for a minute or two.

The announcer said “The Warriors have won, Warriors 28 to the Hens 25.” The three of them looked at each other and then shrugged.  
“Let’s go to Sweet Sunday’s for fro-yo.” Carly suggested amongst the noise of the chattering people that was leaving the stands and heading for the door of the gymnasium.

 

Forty-five minutes away from Orson, at the exactly same time, Brick and Axl were still at Axl’s desk in his dorm room trying to ignore the noises of Kenny’s computer playing behind them, Brick slurped the last sip of his Slushie then tossed it aside then requested for Axl’s class notes, syllabus and study notes, the teen had rummaged around until he made an noise of success as he held up his philosophy notes and shaking it in the air.  
“Here's my notes I took in Philosophy class.” He put the sheets to his nose and winced “Oh, they, uh, sort of reek. Do I smell like that?” he muttered the last thoughtfully to himself.

When the notes were in Brick’s hands, he shuffled through them until he noticed one of the notes had a list of baby names and read them out loud “Avril, Courtney, Hayley, Joan, Katty, Piper, Stevie, Sharin, Zooey…” he trailed off, then said flatly “Axl. Why is this a list of female baby names?” Axl let out a soft sound of distress and tried to grab the list from Brick, who held onto it with a deadpan stare.  
Axl shrugged while speaking “Oh, that’s just for Sue, she has been vetoing chick names lately… I mean, who wouldn’t like Avril?”

Brick tilted his head in confusion… “Wait, isn’t that the name of that skater punk you used to like… Lavender? Laverne? Lavigne… that’s it. Avril Lavigne. I remember since you kept replaying that ‘skater’ song over and over, it was annoying because it kept interrupting my first foray into Planet Nowhere.”

Axl quickly snatched the list away from Brick, slight pink in his cheeks betraying his embarrassment. “Whatevs. Look, you still helping or not?”

“Don't worry. I know what we need to do.” He started to rummage around.

Five minutes later, Axl was bemoaning “Why is this so hard?” while staring at the wall, his hands at his cheeks, while Brick was scribbling at a piece of paper.

“It’s way too much work and I don’t understand how to do any of it.” Axl continued to complain.

Brick spoke “Honestly, it’s not that complex…” he put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and continued “I promise you’ll get the hang of it.”

He then showed Axl how to drop Fundamentals of Math on the paper.  
After Axl successively dropped a class on paper, he cheered and said “Yes! I’m kicking college’s ass!” which made Brick roll his eyes in sheer disbelief.

 

Forty-five minutes later, Axl pulled up in front of the Heck house, the lanky teen hit the child lock button and insisted “Ok, Brick. You’ve gotta promise not to tell the parentals and Sue. Especially Sue. Just let me figure out how to tell them myself.”

Brick gave an assenting nod.

He pressed the button again, making Brick able to access the doors.

The boys entered the house to discover Frankie reading out from a flyer and instructing “Squatting: slowly sit down, feet flat on the floor, knees apart to allow for the belly space and hands in the praying position.” And Sue slowly squatting in the awkward and strange position and Mike trying to ignore the whole thing in the living room.

“Sue, what the hell are you doing?” Axl asked confused, with Brick nodding along. He ignored Frankie’s remonstrated “Axl!” due to the foul language.

Sue, from her position from the ground said in an almost gasping breath, “Mom’s helping me with the birthing exercises, we’re doing stretches before doing the actual exercises.”

The boys nodded blankly.

“OK Sue. The next position is The butterfly position: You sit on your bottom and bring your legs in with your toes touching and push down on your knees with your elbows…or you can rock side to side.” Frankie then decided to show Sue how to do the butterfly position, only her knees seemed not to agree and made her faceplant onto the carpet, making the others laugh.

“Whoa, what was that?” Axl asked, then continued waving a hand “Mom, do that again, I didn’t have my camera out.”

Sue said from her kneeling position said “Mom was like this…” she pretended to squat then motioned with her hands to show a faceplant.

Brick said, shaking his head “I don't think I can unsee it.”

Mike from his position asked in an almost amused tone “Frankie, what do you have going on there?”

Frankie said embarrassed “Uh, I don’t know… I tried squatting, and somehow my feet then my knees just didn’t agree…” she looked down to her shoes “Ooh, maybe it’s the shoes. After all, I’m wearing my work shoes.”

Mike said in a deadpan tone “Tennis shoes, yeah. The rubber soles made you stick to the ground.”

Justin the dog let out a sharp bark as if he wanted to put his six cents in.

Then it was like the straw that broke the camel’s back and Frankie began to talk in an angry tone “All you see when you look at me is something to make fun of. ‘Ha, ha, ha, mom was born in the pioneer days,’ ‘Mom can’t do prenatal yoga’ ‘Oh, mom's wearing her sweatpants backwards.’ Okay. I'm sorry. I thought the word ‘Juicy’ was supposed to go on the front, okay? And I just laugh along like it's all okay, and it piles up. And it's just chip, chip, chip, and pick, pick, pick, and it takes its toll, people. It takes its toll! Do you want to know why I can't do yoga? I'll tell you why. 'Cause I have the weight of all your ridicule and disdain piled on my back and dragging me down! That's why I can't do yoga! So, when you are all laughing and snickering, you remember I am not just some Mom punching bag! I am a person with feelings, okay!?!”

Then she stormed off towards the main bedroom, leaving her family behind in total shock. Everyone exchanged looks with each other. Sue said in an almost sorrowful tone “Oops.”

With some discussion then some hesitancy from everyone, Mike, Axl, Sue and Brick finally apologized to Frankie, with a hiccupping and crying apology from Sue, a rambling speech about messing up from Axl, and Brick attempting to find good examples of Frankie succeeding at something and Justin giving a sharp bark as if giving his own opinion on it as well.

 

It was almost midnight, and Sue was pacing the room, carrying Ricky and looking harried and upset. She couldn’t work out why he couldn’t calm down. His nappy was changed twice, he was fed already, he was burped. “Oh my god. I’ll fail. I’ll be the worst mother in the class!” she said to Axl, who was sitting on the bed.

Axl comforted her, “Sue. This is just one night. The other times you’ve been awesome. You pick robo - I mean Ricky up anytime when he cries and you make sure he’s fed when he’s hungry. You will be a great mother.”

“But he’s still crying and almost screaming. What if he wakes Mom, Dad and Brick up?” Sue asked.

Axl was struck by a great idea “Hang on a minute…” he then quickly snuck into his ‘old’ room and grabs his guitar and returned and starts to strum, then then he sings in a baritone “Carry on my wayward son, for there’ll be peace when you are done, lay your weary head to rest, don’t you cry no more…” When Sue instantly recognized the song since she remembered that Axl went through a Kansas obsession in high school for a girl he was chasing who was interested in the band and Sue had to listen to all the Kansas songs Axl was learning for the chick. She began to join in, her soprano voice blending smoothly with Axl’s “…Once I rose above the noise and confusion, just to get a glimpse beyond the illusion…” the two continued to sing the song, with Sue gently bouncing the mechanical baby.

As they let the song slowly fade away naturally, Axl looked down to the ‘sleeping’ mechanical baby and spoke with a smirk “Huh. Robobaby’s asleep. We kicked parental butt.”  
His smirk faded into a small smile “Sue. I’m sure our real baby would love you, cos you’re his or her mom, and I love you.”  
Sue pinked in pleasure and said “I love you too. And the baby would love you too, no matter what.”

Axl put his guitar in a safe place, then returned to Sue and gently pulled the mechanical baby out of Sue’s arms and gently put it into the crib and pulled Sue to him and pecked her on the mouth.

When he turned back to Sue, a smirk spread upon his face and began singing “It might seem crazy what I’m about to say, sunshine she’s here, you can take away, I’m a hot air balloon…” he continued to sing in an upbeat tone then pulled Sue to him and began to swing dance with her gently laughing at his craziness. The swing-dance slowly changed to a slow dance, just the two of them slowly twirling on the spot with Axl humming a soft tune, her head leaning against Axl’s shoulder, and Axl’s lips occasionally tenderly touching the top of Sue’s head.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Thanksgiving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Firstly, apologies for the delayed chapter. I guess life got into the way of writing and gave me dreadful writers block. But, just recently I got back into it and not only I proceeded with this chapter, I managed to outline some of the future chapters as well as some ideas and dialogue for the epilogue and figured out how long this fic will go for: twenty-five chapters.
> 
> AN2: For this chapter I have minor changes: Aunt Edie didn't leave for Branson until after Thanksgiving, she is needed for this chapter. the midnight mall crazy thing was moved to the early morning of Thanksgiving Day for plot purposes. I will be introducing a one-off character: the ‘relief’ OB in this chapter is inspired slightly by Robin Williams’ character in “Nine Months”, and has a bit of a German accent and will be mixing her German words with English, so I tried to demonstrate that.
> 
> German Translation: 
> 
> Hier = here  
> Kind = child  
> Dummkopf! = Idiot!  
> Achtundzwanzig = Twenty-Eight  
> Auberginen = Eggplant  
> Sehr gut = Very good  
> Drei = third  
> Zrei = two  
> Busch = book 
> 
> Happy reading!

On the morning before Thanksgiving Day, Sue ate her breakfast, Brick eating with a book in front of him as usual and Axl helpfully helping Frankie with washing up, Frankie reminded Mike “Mike, you remember Aunt Edie and my parents are coming for thanksgiving this year?”

Mike said confused “I thought Aunt Edie was going to Branson?” Frankie waved a hand and explained away the change “She forgot she had a veterinarian appointment for Doris on the second day after Thanksgiving so she’s leaving the third day after Thanksgiving rather not going there for Thanksgiving instead.”

Mike nodded slowly still confused at Frankie’s convoluted explanation.

“I’ll pick up all the groceries after work, if I have time.” Frankie said, as she ran a hand through her hair thinking of all the things she needed to do today. Axl volunteered “I can do that, Mom. Just give me the money and the shopping list and I can get them for you.” Frankie sighed thankfully and said “Thanks Axl!” and rummaged away in her purse to retrieve the items as requested.

 

It was lunchtime and a bored Sue was visiting Brad at Spudsy Malone’s during his fifteen-minute lunch break. Sue sighed into her tuna potato, making Brad ask concernedly “Sue, you okay?”

“It’s just… the parenting class is hard lately, and this afternoon I’ve got a check-up, but all I want is to relax for the vacation. Just spend time with…” She shook here self before she blurted out what she wanted to say, so she quickly continued “Dad and Brick has gotten into the naming the baby game. Last night, Dad subtly suggested Peyton for the baby.”

Brad looked confused, as he detested all kinds of sports and whoever famous playing any kind of sport.

Sue enlightened him “After Peyton Manning, the Colts quarterback. Sometimes I do listen to Dad’s Colts’ rants and him listing each player’s stats.” Brad nodded, his expression clearing, then asked curiously “And what was Brick’s suggestion?”

Sue shook her head fondly as she said “He’s going through his favourite novels’ character names, in order of book favourites. He started with Kalakare.”

Brad gave a look of mild disgust mixed with confusion “Kalawhat?” He asked.

“Apparently, she’s some princess from the Planet Nowhere books.” The pregnant teen replied.

"That's almost as bad as Renesmee." He commented, referring to their mutual hatred of the Twilight character name.  
Sue continued on the baby naming topic "I didn't mind the name Elizabeth. Or Anna or even Holly as well as some others he suggested, but..." she trailed off trying to find a reason why she hasn’t decided upon a name yet.

Brad nodded in realisation “Ultimately, it is your decision. After all it’s your baby.”

_Well it’s mine. And Axl’s_ she privately thought, but didn’t let Brad onto her thoughts, but quickly searched her thoughts for a polite excuse to leave until she checked her watch and said “Ooh, I better go. I’ve got to go to the OB appointment.” They stood up and exchanged a warm farewell hug awkwardly due to the belly.

 

In the van and on her way to the appointment, Sue’s finger was on the van’s radio station buttons, searching for a station that fit her current mood and the random station instantly put on a song she instantly recognised and liked then she began tapping out the soft melody on the steering wheel and started humming along to the song.

The van started to stall, and then started sounding weird. Sue took her eyes off the road to the dashboard in surprise, she flicked her eyes back upon the road she immediately began to pull the car over and just as she did, the engine died.

“Not again!” She groaned. She flipped open her cellphone and started searching through her contact list to work out who to call. After some elimination, (both parents at work, Frankie at an emergency root canal extraction with an difficult client who had a horrible dentist phobia, Mike in a meeting with workers compensation due to an incident onsite earlier that week, Carly sick with mono, Brad stuck with a full timetable of work shifts which she had an earful about earlier, Sally stuck on bedrest due to orders by her doctor, all of the Donahues away at their relatives for Thanksgiving, the Norwoods in Indianapolis for a Thanksgiving event and she wanted not to bother Darrin…) the phone highlighted Axl’s contact and realised that he was the only one home since he was home for holidays. She pressed dial, then put it to her ear as she waited for him to answer.

 

When Axl arrived, the tow truck and the mechanic already had arrived, and Sue finished detailing what happened to the mechanic with a nod headed to Axl and said in an almost panicky tone “Axl, let’s go! we have like ten minutes before the appointment, or otherwise it would be given away to someone else.” Axl nodded, scared by the intense look Sue had her face. Once they arrived, as Sue announced her arrival to Adalind, who immediately had a nervous look on her face and said, “Just a minute…I have to check on something.” then left the desk to Axl offered to Sue “I can wait right here until you’re-” but he got interrupted by Adalind’s return saying “Dr. White is currently sick and you have a temporary doctor by the name of Dr. Sabina Nutzlos. You can either continue to your appointment but with Dr Nutzlos or you can reschedule to next time.”  
Axl and Sue exchanged a quick look, then Sue said “Well, since we’re here, I suppose we can see Dr. Nutzlos…”

Sue said, “Since it’s someone new, I would like you to come into the room with me.” Axl sighed and nodded, following Sue to the examination room, only to stop dead.

“I am Sabina Nutzlos.” Said the doctor. Sue blinked in surprise. She was blonde haired, tall and willowy with a soft German accent.

Sue approached the adjustable bed thingy, pausing slightly when she saw it was high.

“One minzz, Miss Hex.” Dr Nutzlos said as she recognised why Sue stopped. She fiddled with the controls, only to have the bed flip up and down uncontrollably, scaring Sue who took a step backwards, while Axl held onto her, bewildered.

When the uncontrollable flipping stopped and the bed seemingly a bit lower and a bit odd yet ready, the doctor patted the bed, beaming.

“Hier. Time to check kind.” Dr Nutzlos said, mixing her German with English.

Sue let out a weak smile at the doctor, then hissed lowly to Axl “Do not leave my side in any circumstances, or no more fun times for you.”

Axl quickly looked at the still smiling doctor then back and said, “no problem.”

“Mizz Music is away. I do check kind.” Dr. Nutzlos said, confusing Sue. Then she saw the sonogram machine and realised that Dr Nutzlos meant that Melody, the nurse who usually operated the sonogram machine was away.

Through a pasted smile upon her face Sue nodded in acceptance. When Dr. Nutzlos turned grab the tube of gel and returned, she tripped against the rolling chair and dropped the gel tube.

“Dummkopf!” Dr. Nutzlos swore to herself, then said “Sorry. First day.”

She bent over to pick up the tube only to bang her head against the metal part of the adjustable bed.

Sue let out an eeping yelp of concern and asked, “Are you alright, Doctor?” while Axl winced.

The tall blonde German doctor waved off a hand, rubbing against her head.

She took of the tube lid and squeezed, only she squeezed too hard and the gel spurted out in one long spurt that sounded like a fart. Axl snorted at the sound, but Sue gave him a swat along with a glare pointedly reminding him to behave.

After cleaning up the mess, the clumsy doctor managed to put the right amount on Sue’s belly and managed to roll the sonogram handle over Sue’s belly without any incident.

“Your kind is now achtundzwanzig… sorry, twenty-eight weeks.” She moved the handle around slightly and said, “kind size is like auberginen uh... the big purple plant.” She tried to show the eggplant shape with her fingers and hands to support her findings to Sue and Axl, who tried to understand what she was trying to say. The two still confused teens kept shaking their heads, until Dr. Nutzlos showed them a picture of an eggplant on her computer until they understood the meaning.

Dr. Nutzlos took off the plastic gloves and said, “Now check blood.” She retrieved the blood pressure cuff and put it on and pumped the pump until the cuff was firmly around Sue’s forearm.

When the doctor checked the readout, she said “Sehr gut. I mean very good. No danger of clamps.” Sue looked confused for a minute, then remembered the chapter on preeclampsia she read in her book this morning an understood what she meant, while Axl was trying to work out what the word meant, mouthing it to himself until Sue whispered in his ear.

They returned their attention to the doctor who was saying “Today start of drei trimester. I mean third. Must visit doctor Witte—White in zrei no, two weeks then when kind is at thirty-six must visit weekly.”

Sue then remembered that lately, when she was trying to sleep, her legs seemed to have the urge to move or jerk.

Sue said in a clear and concise explanation “My legs do this.” she mimicked the jerking, then continued “When I try to sleep.” She simultaneously pretended to sleep trying to get the German doctor to understand what she was saying with body language.

“Ah yes. Normal.” Dr. Nutzlos said, nodding. She proceeded with other necessary medical procedures, each time with slight clumsy accidents.

When she finally finished the appointment, Dr Nutzlos said not seeing the relived looks on the two teenagers’ faces, “See Addie front to busch-book to see Dr. Weitt – White in zrei- two weeks.”

With confused nods from Sue and Axl, the two teens left, heading back to the administration table, with Axl saying "Your regular OB better be delivering our kid, not Dr Nutso." Which made Sue laugh for the first time that day.

 

 

It was Thanksgiving Day, and Sue was about ready to go to the mall for the early dawn mall rush.

“There you are.” Frankie said in a whisper, trying not to wake up Mike and Brick, then continued “Ready for some dawn daftness?”  
Sue grinned “So ready.”  
A tired Axl was at the bench, vainly trying to stay awake. Sue grimaced She had to apologise to him tonight for the accidental kicking due to the restless leg syndrome she had developed lately.  
“Why do you have to go this morning? Black Friday’s coming up.” Axl mumbled almost in his arms.

Frankie explained to her half-asleep son “Pioneer Galaxy Mall has moved Black Friday up to Wednesday. But this morning, everything is 60% off. We wait till Friday, it's only 30% off.”  
Sue turned and instantly saw the still asleep Justin “Oh shoot, I forgot to walk Justin." Sue said, cursing her baby brain, and Frankie said, “Maybe someone else will have to do it, or wait until you get back?” Axl piped up “You know what? I'll walk him after I take the garbage out for the trash men then I’ll pick up Grandma Pat and Grandpa Tag.” It made Sue beam happily at him and Frankie said "What a wonderful son you have been lately. Perhaps you’re maturing." Axl gave a tired, weak smile.

It was nearly dawn when Frankie and Sue got to the mall for the event and to their surprise got primo parking. As they lined up the slowly converging people waiting for the stores to open, Frankie said “Use your belly as an advantage, and block any people to get anything you want in your trolley.” Then Frankie eyed the mall’s manager getting ready to let the excited shoppers in and said to Sue “Get ready.”

While Sue and Frankie was in middle of Frankie’s wild stampede, Axl was stuck in his car getting reamed out by the grandparents for dropping his class throughout the long trip back to Orson, hunching himself over the steering wheel and tried to ignore the angry grandparents ranting in his ear. Back at the Heck house, Brick was busy in the kitchen preparing his lime jello, knowing that Frankie would not end up making it as she promised.

Out front and oblivious to Brick’s jello preparation, Mike wordlessly waved at Edie’s departing housemate as Edie and Doris joined him on the doorstep.

As they entered the Heck house, Edie while regaled Mike with a tale that he was barely even listening to, Doris stopped in front of Justin. The two dogs stared at each other, one with surprise and curiosity, the other with boredom. The bored one, who was too old to try and decide who was the top dog in the house just flopped down next to the now sitting Edie, who sat next to Mike who flipped on the TV and started looking for a Colts pre-game.

 

Axl, with an expression of bare relief entered the house and made a beeline to Brick and started complaining to him about what happened on the long trip, finishing up by reassuring him that the grandparents indeed did bring fudge.

Axl grabbed a bag of chips and jumps on couch with remote in hand, but Mike snatched it out of his hand, still wanting to watch the pre-game. Sue and Frankie came in, Sue’s oddly quiet until she said the what have you' tic, which made Mike slightly concerned and Axl overly suspicious since Sue was supposed to lie better, after all they were covering up a major lie... And then Sue announced, "I'm going to go to my room for normal reasons." Axl gets even more worried but he gets distracted by Pat saying "What happened to my sunshiney girl?... Oh, I forgot to give her my newspaper clips... (she looked into her bag for the clips with the Skymall torch glasses) oh, never mind I'll give them to her later."

As Mike headed into the kitchen to look for some refreshments Tag, with a harried look upon his face, corners him and starts a rambling explanation about Tag losing the cruise money on online gambling finishing up with trying to get Mike to cover for him whenever Tag was going to bring up cruise disasters in conversation.

As time went by, with everyone busy with either: reading (Brick), watching TV (Mike), wrestling with inner demons (Sue), worrying about parental reactions over an important announcement he has to make (Axl), the wife’s reaction over a secret (Tag) or cheerfully talking about the cruise (Pat) or working on preparing Thanksgiving dinner (Frankie).

 

Finally, _finally_ , Frankie called out “Dinner!”

Everyone who had their own dramas or problems instantly was relieved to have dinner distract them and scrambled to the living room to find seats. Axl, distracted by trying to figure out how to announce the class dropping didn’t notice Sue was staring depressingly at her plate.

Brick cleared his throat and asked pointedly “Mom, where’s my lime jello salad?”

Frankie groaned “Oh shoot, Brick. I forgot.”

Brick shot aback annoyed “Really Mom? Ten years and you still couldn’t pull it off? Wow. Lucky, I know you very well.” He pulled a sheet of paper off a tray of a green looking liquid.

Brick said brightly “Ta-da! We didn’t have any fresh fruit cocktail, so I substituted skittles instead.”

Frankie arched her eyebrow and said in an almost laughing tone “Wow, Brick.” Then when she looked closer, she informed her youngest “You know, you’re supposed to let it refrigerate for four hours.”

Brick shot back “Oh yeah? Well, maybe we could do a taste test against yours."

Frankie sighed, then shook her head “Forget it. Just sit and eat.”

 

As everyone were about to eat; forks at their mouths, the sound of the doorbell reverberated through the house, interrupting them. Everyone looked towards the direction of the noise in astonishment.

When Frankie returned from answering the doorbell with the beaming Dr. Goodwin in tow, she muttered to Mike “He still doesn't get sarcasm...” making the eavesdropping Axl choke back a laugh. Frankie, with a smile pasted on her face instantly re-arranged the seating, then everyone was ready to eat once again, the doorbell went once again.

Frankie nearly dropped her head in despair, then pasted her ‘all’s fine’ smile upon her face again and went to answer the door again, only to return with Marlene and her two kids Colleen and Louis Vuitton. Frankie quickly introduced Marlene and the kids to Dr. Goodwin, Aunt Edie and Frankie’s parents as well as sub tly reminding her family about them. After asking for help from her kids, Frankie re-arranged the seating for one last time.

Thanksgiving dinner continued without any interruptions. That is, if you were counting Tag's fake bad cruise stories or Marlene's unsubtle flirting towards a very uncomfortable Dr. Goodwin and Brick loudly slurping at his unmade lime jello.

In midst of the dinner, Tag asks Mike if he would talk to him in the kitchen. When they return, Aunt Edie toddles off with two plates of food for the dogs. Doris' plate seemed to have a mixture of mashed potatoes and stuffing and small bits of turkey (Aunt Edie reminded Frankie that Doris hasn't any mandibles to chew her food) while the other plate seemed to have a lot of turkey, which made Justin jump and bark in circles. On her way back, Aunt Edie sees Sue get up from the table and walk into the kitchen to get some juice from the fridge, Aunt Edie, in midst of her momentary dementia 'mistakes' Sue for Frankie and asks politely, "Are you pregnant with Axl?", and Sue panics and as she returns to the table, she swung past Axl and she whispered, "I think Aunt Edie knows that we're together." Mouth full of food, he almost chokes as his eyes bulge as he heard what she said.

Axl now worries about both, the Edie thing and telling the parentals about the dropping two classes. He piles on more food, not realising that he was overeating in his nervousness. He decided to just announce it and get it over with and stood up and began “I’d just like to say how thankful I am to be surrounded by so many loved ones, because when bad news has to be delivered, you need your family and friends and bosses to not overreact to-” but he got interrupted by Tag loudly announcing about the gambling and Pat getting angry at him. Then instantly after that, Marlene almost shouted about shoving her goods in Dr Goodwin’s way, then slipped the titbit about divorcing Rusty. Slumping his shoulders in submission, he sat back down almost grumbling about a missed moment.

Once dinner was finished, Dr Goodwin tried to leave, wanting to escape Marlene’s flirting but Frankie reminded him of dessert, so he tried just to avoid her. When Mike flipped on the television, Brick noticed “Hey look – is that Mom?” when a newsreader had a picture of Frankie, looking angry and wild with her arms up in the air along with the words ‘Mayhem at the Mall’.

Everyone turned to Frankie, shocked. Frankie tried to get someone to change the channel, but curiosity made everyone watch the segment, and once it finished, Sue burst out pointing at Frankie “That wasn't all! You guys didn't see the whole thing. Mom kept throwing me things, and she kept saying, "Put it in the cart! Put it in the cart! Put it in the cart!" And everyone went nuts and started grabbing things. I had to try and fling myself on the cart to stop them or Mom pushing me to block them with my belly, and then when it was over, she made me promise not to tell!” she then burst into tears, feeling overwhelmed. Pat patted her shoulder, giving Frankie an glare. Frankie then tried to defend herself with excuses.

Axl then stepped forwards and announced, “I had to drop three classes.”

It was silent, but then Frankie yelled “Axl!” then, continued with “How could have this happened?” Axl reeled off with his explanation, then waited with bated breath as Frankie looked at Mike. Mike calmly said “Well, it’s your life.” Which made Axl blink in surprise. He was sure his father would have yelled at him.

 

After some pacing and worrying in his bedroom and trying not to listen to Brick’s groaning, Mike popped his head in to ask, “You guys want to play some football?” with Axl joining with a confused ‘sure’.

While Brick was laying on the grass groaning from the lime jello, Sue managed to play a little, (mostly was just throwing the ball, with no running) but gave up since her pregnancy impeded from putting her all into the game and walked off. A confused Axl, in midst of failing at the game rants at Mike who only speaks sporadically. Just out of Axl’s eyesight, Dr. Goodwin tries to escape from Marlene's overt flirting while Frankie, Tag and Pat watch on the bench and Pat's announcement about weight watchers and not quitting the membership, instantly made Tag drop his jaw in shock.

Back on the street, Mike and Axl finally talk, and Axl promising to do better in his studies while Mike smiled to himself.

As Frankie served up dessert, and Axl refusing whipped cream as self-punishment, Sue managing to eat all of her dessert to make up for her despondence over dinner.

When Frankie escorted Dr. Goodwin to the door she apologised “Again, I am so sorry about everything.”  
Dr. Goodwin agreed nodding “I know it was a pretty screwy Thanksgiving. So I guess I’ll see you at Christmas huh?”  
Frankie then sarcastically says “Okay I’ll be here.” and his upbeat reply “Oh, yeah I know you will.”  
As Frankie closed the door behind her, her head dropped in realisation that she once again inadvertently invited Dr. Goodwin over for Christmas.

 

Later that night, Sue brushed her hair while listening to Axl, who was in her bed mindlessly playing with Woofy in his hands as he gave her an in-depth explanation to why he had to drop the classes in the first place, finishing up with his promise to Mike.

Sue climbed into bed and said "Okay. But you better study better. Ooh, kickitteenstyle has a study guide. See, it has... You know what, I'll just email you the link." She turned sideways to click off the bedside light and laid back down, ready to sleep oblivious to Axl’s look of consternation that continues into the darkness of the room.


End file.
